Getting around in a splint isn't all that bad!

Sanders came home from the vet with a Green Cast on his leg and some little blue hearts. They did such a good job with him. As soon as we got home, he proceeded to hobble around on 3 legs...and even has managed to successfully go potty (both #1 and #2)! He was slowed down just for a bit, but is back up and at 'em! We had some friends over to carve pumpkins, and they signed his cast...awww....how sweet! Now, for some entertaining pictures for you.

Unfortunately, he cried again all night last night.....he managed 2 nights with no crying before that. Here are some pictures of the poor little guy!

Broken Leg!!

Updating Jen's previous post, apparently Sanders has broken his leg from his little tumble off the couch. The poor little guy sure has had a rough start to it all. Before taking the x-rays, the vet initially thought that it might be his femur that was broken, which would have been funny (in an ironic way, not a "ha-ha" way), as I broke my femur when I was kid, and the femur is one of the rarest bones to break. As it turns out, it's not his femur. His tibia is fractured in 2 places. I also broke my tibia as a child, but that is another story. Apparently the breaks form a sort of "Y" shape and are small cracks, not full-on breaks, so that is good.

Since Jen was the only one there when he fell off the couch, and she was upset about it, I tried to lighten the mood a little by joking with her that she must have Munchausen Syndrome Byproxy. (Munchausen Syndrome Byproxy, for those that don't know, is the condition where mothers secretly hurt or poison their own children in an attempt to gain attention for themselves...For some reason, this is one of the arcane bits of information that stuck to my brain and I have never been able to forget). Anyway, as you can imagine, Jen didn't see nearly as much humor in my crack-diagnosis as I did, so I eventually had to drop it. Fortunately, I know how to drop things withOUT breaking their legs! (Sorry, Jen, you married me)

In all seriousness, we feel very bad for the little guy. Jen is on her way to the vet now to pick him up (insert bad joke here). The vet is sticking a splint on and told Jen he should be fully healed in 6 weeks. I imagine he's going to have to have the splint replaced before that or he'll outgrow it, but I don't know. Maybe it won't take that long to heal.

Another vet visit. I feel like such a bad dog mom!!

I was sooo excited to get up and type a blog about our great weekend...Purdue game, 2 nights of not crying when sleeping in the crate...but unfortunately, I have to report that I had to take Sanders to the vet again this morning. I got up and took him out at 6:15 this morning...then we were having some cuddle time on the couch. Sanders decided to slip off the edge and land on his honches....and I think he has broken his leg! We took him to the vet, and he did good while getting an exam and XRays, but we had to just leave him there while waiting to get the results of the XRays. Will post more later, when we know how he is....I feel like SUCH a BAD dog mom!!!

Getting the potty training down, and learning to sit!! 5AD

You know, training a dog might not be all that bad after all! After 4 days of working with Sanders, he only had one 'start to accident' yesterday. I think it is largely because of putting him on a schedule. Now, when we go out and I say 'potty', he actually goes!!! This is such a big accomplishment in my mind. And he hasn't messed his bed yet. We went to bed at 10:30 last night, and didn't get up until 4:30 to let him out. 6 hours at his age...I think this dog might be developing a bladder of steel!

A bigger accomplishment is that Sanders didn't cry as much last night!! Thank goodness. He cried for about 10-15 minutes before calling it quits. And he didn't cry much at all after getting let out!

Yesterday Lela spent the afternoon with Sanders...most of the time he was pretty unexciting..sitting under my chair and snoozing...but when he woke up he was ready to play. We tried to do a walk on a leash...which was semi successful, then ran him around in circles. After coming in, he was ravenous...just absolutely starving! What is up with that? He had already exceeded the amount of recommended food for his size/weight. This dog can eat! He is eating like 1-1/2 cups of food a day. Guess he is a growing boy! Anyways, when we came in, Lela started bribing the dog to sit with some pieces of Kibble. And you know what, he sits now! Most of the time he obeys the command right off the bat! Guess they were right about the way these dogs learn...QUICKLY!

We took another walk in the evening on the leash up to the end of the road. Sanders fought most of the way there. But on the way back home, we were actually jogging. Per observation, it looked like we were in the competing arena for Best In Show. How dorky!!

Today is the first day the dog will be put in the crate during the day as I head out to visit customers and no one else is around. I hope he does OK!

Parasites and First walk on a leash, 4 AD

I got a call from the vet late yesterday afternoon. Ends up he has a parasite known as Giardia. It causes diarrhea. That explains a lot from yesterday. So now I get to put the pooch on not only 2 types of ear drops, but have to feed him medicine to eliminate the parasite and hopefully stop the diarrhea. *sigh* One vet bill after another. So far in 3 days, I have spent over $100 for diagnostic tests and medicine. This is on top of the normal puppy check up/vaccination. I wonder if this is common with new puppies?

Sanders did much better last night. He cried for about 20 minutes, then went to sleep. I got up after 5 hours and took him out, where he went pee immediately! He is getting the hang of this. Then he only cried about 10 minutes or so when I put him back in the crate.

We think in the morning that he hears our alarms go off, and he knows that we're up. So after the morning routine of potty, play and eat...I decided to take him on his first leash walk. We actually made it 2 blocks! He did really great! Of course, he had me training myself how to hold the leash so he couldn't trip me. I nearly bit it a couple of times...but now I have the hang of it. I need to go buy a retractable leash to help prevent that problem later.

Another day begun, and I'm working as he sleeps under my chair. I think we're getting this schedule thing down!!

Day 3 A.D.

Getting a dog is a BIG ADJUSTMENT, isn't it? :) We learned that on Saturday night after getting home with Sanders that he was going to challenge our nerves the next few nights. We put him in his crate for bed that first night, and Tony slept on the couch so the puppy could see him. Sanders barked for about 30 minutes before calling it quits and falling asleep. I got up at 2:45AM to take him outside to pee...which was successful! Yay! Put him back in his crate, and after 10-15 minutes of barking, he was asleep until Day 1 A.D. (After Dog) at 7AM.

Sunday (Day 1 AD) was fun...he met grandma and grandpa Thackery...and pretty much just sat at our feet during the day. He also met the neighbors, Brooke and Colby....he loves Brooke (who is in 2nd grade). During the day, he used the bathroom outside when he was supposed to, and only had one small accident in the afternoon. Sounds like a pretty good puppy, huh?

Oh brother....Sunday night Sanders showed us his spirit....and how he isn't a quitter. Just like his namesake Bob Sanders of the Colts. Well, let me summarize the evening by saying, Tony and I didn't get more than 1 hour of sleep. I am NOT exagerating! Sanders was having some MAJOR separation anxiety. He barked/howled/whined all night long. I took him out to go potty a couple of times....and rather than going, he just sat at my feet. I'd take a step, and he'd run up and hug my leg like "Mom...don't leave me again!!"

So yesterday, Day 2 AD...I was working from home. We went to the first vet visit to have them check out Sanders. The vet was awesome...and Sanders was fine as we poked and prodded. Ends up he has an ear infection already. So, I get to start treating him daily by filling his ears up with this medicine. He is so trusting and actually lets us do it without too much of a struggle. What a good puppy. Then we came home, and everytime Sanders would take a drink, I'd take him out...then he wouldn't go. Then he'd sniff around and start going on the floor...then I'd take him out and he'd finish. *Sigh* I don't think it was the smartest idea to take him out every time after he drank. I think he is associating drinking with being able to go outside, which he loves. In the evening, friends came over to play, and Sanders officially has his new favorite toy. a green fuzzy monkey that squeaks. He loves it so much that he is carrying it around.

Sleeping last night was a bit better. He went into his crate and didn't cry when I shut the door. He slept most of the night with just a couple times of whining. Of course the whining and barking is interfering with our REM sleep..and we're still exhausted this morning.

Starting today, I am putting him on a schedule and trying to get him to go out only at 7, 12, 5 and 10. We'll see how that works. I never knew how much time a puppy could take, especially while trying to house train him. I have only been exposed to indoor dogs. I've never actually had one. Trying to read a curly fur covered puppy's facial expressions to know to take him outside to pee is a hard thing! Oh, and on top of that, I tried to start mixing in a new puppy food that the breeder had recommended (about 1/4 of the mix) .....what did that result in? Projectile liquid poop. EWWWW....Unfortunately, this was in the house...but I got him to stop and finish outside. Right now he is sleeping at my feet...which is becoming the norm. We'll also try to work with him on a leash today. We did a little yesterday, and it went pretty well.

Time to try to get some work done while the pooch is asleep!

Countdown is 4 days!

We've decided to adopt a puppy! I'm sure that the adventure is only beginning. Jen picked up a book about how to raise a puppy (by The Monks of New Skete), and is already learning a lot about all the time and effort it is going to take. Our lives are going to be changing to accomodate this addition to our family! Not sure how Gizmo is going to like being a big brother...or would it be cousin since they are different species? Or maybe he'll just so dearly term the puppy "worthy of ignoring". We hope the addition doesn't make him too mad!!

The type of puppy we are getting is a PULI. No, it isn't a mix of a poodle and another type of dog. It is a PULI which is a Hungarian Sheep Dog. For those of you who watch those dog shows on TV, it is the medium size black ones that look like a mop. Yes, our dog will have dredlocks....or in the dog world they are known as cords. But we won't be seeing those for 9 months or so. We're getting our dog from a place in Michigan called Prestige Puli (http://www.prestigepuli.com/). We're still in the process of deciding a name. We were thinking either Bob or Sanders. I think Sanders is more of a dog name. Below is a picture of Sanders at 5-6 weeks!

We are headed up to Kalamazoo after the Iowa game this weekend. Of course, this unexpected quick addition of the puppy is making us change our weekend homecoming plans....and I'm sure this is just the beginning of how it is going to change our lives!