Update on Tarot

She's doing fine. I picked her up from the vet yesterday afternoon. She has a hot pink bandage covering the staples in her leg. The doctor said she had to trim the skin flap before she could refit it to cover the gash.

We have some medications to give her...one is a pain pill that she gets every 12 hours, and the other is an antibiotic that she gets every 8 hours. Adam and I were supposed to go out of town this weekend and the dogs were going to stay with his parents. But with Tarot's situation, Adam is going to stay home with the dogs. I'm still going...

Where you ask? Well, my cousin, Jason (who is more like a brother to me), and his fiancee, Crystal, are going to be in the Bay Area this weekend. They're getting married in August and my aunt wanted to throw Crystal a bridal shower tomorrow. Plus, Jason's 25th birthday is Sunday, so we can all celebrate with him. They live in Idaho, so it's been awhile since we've seen them, and I'm really looking forward to the weekend. I will also get to see my best friend Libby this weekend! She lives about three blocks away from my aunt. I haven't seen her since November, so this weekend should be really great!

That's it for now. I'll make sure to post something when I get home with pictures from the shower and the bachelorette party we're throwing for Crystal Saturday night!

Have a great weekend everyone!

My poor little girl....

...has to get stitches! We were at Josh and Katrina's last night for dinner and all the dogs were playing and having fun. Josh went outside to take a phone call and noticed Tarot had a huge gash on her back left leg! She wasn't limping or anything, she kept wanting to run around and play.

We gave her some Benedryl to sedate her a bit and then cleaned the wound with Hydrogen Peroxide, which stung her....she whelped and cried so loud, it just broke my heart! We then put some Neosporin on a piece of gauze and then wrapped her leg so she couldn't lick the wound. After that, she was ready for bed so we took her home and put her in her crate with a cow hoof.

This morning I let her out of the crate and let her outside to go potty. She, of course, wanted to play with Jack, and after 10 minutes of playing, I noticed her foot was swollen to about 3x it's normal size! I freaked out and took the bandage off her leg. By the time we got to the vet about an hour later, it was back to normal size. The vet checked her leg and she definitely needs stitches. They are going to sedate her and clean her up. I'll go pick her up around 4:30.

So, between Jack's two visits (the first one for his tummy when he ate the dirt, and the one last week for the growth's in his mouth - by the way...he just has puppy warts, doctor said they are fine), and this one for Tarot, we've spent about $500 at the vet in the past THREE weeks! I'm about done going to the vet. I'm thinking we need to do a pet insurance program for our pups...there are a few out there that will give up to a 90% reimbursement...still looking into them, and obviously we won't be able to get a reimbursement on this little visit. But I'm thinking it might be worth the $20/month if we only have to pay 10% of the doctor's bill.

Anyone ever used the Pet Insurance programs? If so, which one and was it worth it?

Dogs and Cats....

...can sometimes co-exist together. Jack had gotten to a point of co-existing with Tiger and Beaker. Sure, he would still chase them every now and then, but for the most part, he and the cats could be in the same room together with some sort of truce.

Now that the girl is with us, any sort of truce Jack had with the cats has been blown to smitherines! Jack and Tarot have been ganging up on both of the cats and bark and chase them all over the house. Tonight, Tiger got outside (he's learned how to open the screen door). Adam and I went out looking for him but couldn't find him anywhere. Tarot found him for us....and chased him all over the back yard. Jack joined in and they both chased him all over the back yard and into the house. They were too fast for us to catch them, and we finally caught up with them in my office. Tiger was holding his ground, and the dogs weren't trying to hurt him, just barking at him and scaring him in general.

I did a lot of barking at the dogs on my own and I dragged them out of the room and yelled at them some more. Pretty sure they got the point....they walked away with their heads down and Tarot had her tail between her legs. We've since made up. At this point, Tiger still has not come out of his hiding spot...I don't blame him for staying safe!

Upon further inspection of the dogs, I found the outer shell of one of Tiger's claws in each of their faces, right above their eye. Looks like my kitty was able to defend himself after all! They're just lucky they didn't get a claw to the eye!

Does anyone have any advice on how to train the dogs to leave the kitties alone? Thanks!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Dog days...

I know I haven't posted anything new since last Monday...I've been truly enjoying my time at home with the doggies! In my last post, I mentioned how all Tarot wanted to do was sleep sleep sleep. Well, the girl slept all afternoon, all evening, and all through the night! The next morning, she was ready to play play play!

And boy did she! She and Jack played all day long! They played with all those toys Jack brought out the first day she was home. They especially love to play tug-of-war with his pink puppy...they each grab an ear and go in the opposite direction. Jack and I got this puppy at Petco one night. We went to meet with our trainer and Jack did some shopping while we waited. It was absolutely disgusting within a very short amount of time, so we had to buy it. He killed the squeaker inside of it within 20 minutes! Even though it doesn't squeak anymore, it has remained his favorite toy, and it's made out of super strong material so he can't rip it to shreds!

Jack wins most of the time, but because Tarot is still a baby and is learning the ropes, Jack lets her win sometimes.

They like it when I play, too! Good thing puppy is strong!These two also love to wrestle! They'll wrestle like this for hours, then they'll sleep for hours!

Taking a little break from all the fun!

She's a little ham for the camera!

Totally tuckered out pups!

Needless to say, Tarot definitely fits into our little family! Her and Jack get along great, and she is just a little love bug that loves to snuggle and give kisses. We're so happy we could give her a good home. Next step is to really introduce her to the kitties and make her understand they are not a snack!

The girl is home!

We picked up Tarot today! She is so sweet and just a little love bug. We're still trying to decide if we are going to keep her name as Tarot or if we are going to come up with something else...She was spayed today, so we haven't had a chance to see her real personality yet because she's been asleep almost all afternoon. She should be feeling better tomorrow, and once we get a view of her personality, we'll have a better idea of what we want to name her. Sam and I are voting for Ali, maybe Lucy.

When we brought her in, Jack got all excited and gave her kisses. She laid down on the floor to try to get some sleep, and sweet Jack brought out all his toys so they could play. Poor girl was so tired she decided the only way she could sleep was to crawl under the futon. Jack kept checking on her to make sure she was okay and to give her kisses....and of course to see if she wanted to play!

This little girl is going to need lots of love...poor thing is extremely skinny from all the stress of living in the shelter and has a sort of "beaten dog" manner of walking with her head down and her tail between her legs. I'm not sure if it's because she's still all doped up on the anesthesia or if this is her personality. We're hoping it's just because of the that...If it's not because of that, we are sure we can give her the happy, healthy, loving home that she needs so she can thrive. We're also pretty sure Jack will bring her out of her shell since he was a rescue puppy too and is a very happy and playful dog!

Here are some pics of the newest edition to our family!

We brought Jack's car harness for Tarot to wear home, but she is so much smaller than him that it didn't fit at all and was uncomfortable. Sam sat with her on his lap for most of the way home, but then she decided the area where his feet were was where she wanted to be.

Jack was very excited to see his new sister again. I'm pretty sure Tarot was sleeping while getting her loving from Sam! Every time she came up to any of us for some loving, she closed her eyes! Look at how much skinnier she is than Jack! Her back legs have nothing to them while Jack's back legs are pure muscle. She does have a tail that waggles when we call her name.

This is the girl after she crawled under the futon. She's all ears and legs!

She's thinking about coming out and being with us...still not sure she wants to leave the safety of her little nest....well, at least not completely!

Look! That's my new sister!!!! Jack kept checking on her to see how she was doing. He brought all his toys out of the bedroom and into the living room to get her to play, but the poor girl just wanted to sleep, sleep, sleep!

Lots of big news...

So, it's been almost a week since I have posted anything. Life has drastically changed for me and my little family in a couple of ways....

Job:
Wednesday, May 28, I resigned from my job. I loved what I was doing, but the company was not a company I could stay with any longer. There was no room for me to move up and there was some other stuff that I was happy to get away from.

I have spent the last week and a half enjoying my time off. I've met with Adam for lunch, gone to the dog park several times, picked Sammy up from school, and just unwinding. I have also spent that week and a half searching for a new job. When I have more details on that, I'll make sure to post an update. Until then, I think I'll keep a little mum.

Dog:
Last weekend we met Tarot, the dog from my last post. OH MY GOSH!!! She is the sweetest little thing! She came right up to me and gave me kisses and wanted to snuggle and get loving. She is definitely smaller than Jack, but looks a lot like him, especially when she lays her ears flat. We brought Jack with us to meet her and they played and got along just great. She is 10 months old and really is just a little love! She came for the same shelter that Jack was rescued from, and the people at Boxers and Buddies (the rescue shelter in Reno) think she may either be Jack's daughter or his half sister, which is just crazy to us! Adam and I did some heavy discussion and have decided we would like to adopt her so Jack can have a friend! We bring her home Monday afternoon! I'm really excited and I think it will be good for Jack to have a friend, since I know he misses us a lot during the day. Plus, if they are related, that would be really cool! So, she gets her Rabies shot and will also be spayed on Monday morning, then I'll go pick her up.

Those are the two major things going on with us. I hope all is well for everyone else! Leave a comment and let me know what new and exciting things are going on with you!