Danielle’s Diary

These are posts Danielle wrote while working with the Delaware/Pennsylvania seizure dogs. Oldest are at the bottom; most recent at the top. To read the posts in order, start at the bottom.

 

September 10, 2014: Am back to driving the school bus and have been diagnosed w/sleep apnea (which should be better next week when I get my breathing machine) so have been extra exhausted.  At bedtime I let all the dogs out, then they come in for their bedtime treat.  I crate those that get crated and crash hard.  On Monday night I forgot to latch Kitty’s crate, when I woke up in the morning (4:30 uuuggghhh) she was nowhere to be seen.

Turns out she was in the kitchen w/Percy and hubby and had not chewed up anything, gotten into anything or gone to the bathroom anywhere.  AMAZING

When I left for work an hour later I repeated the crate/treat routine and this time didn’t latch Zoey’s crate properly (yes, I was really really tired).  When I got home from work almost 4 hours later… Zoey was sound asleep upside down w/the crate door wide open.  Again, no messes or destructions (she’s more of a ‘mess’ girl)… AMAZING…

 October 28, 2013: Hi All,

A year ago today I drove to a small shelter in Kent County Delaware to pick up the first 15 of 33 Sams in need. It was a last minute rush job, Hurricane Sandy was coming and the dogs needed out A.S.A.P. so I was alone. This was the beginning of a huge endeavor for us.

 I’ve never officially thanked all of you for your help and support. You brought me to tears more times than I care to reveal and made me proud to be part of the special folks that love this breed. I didn’t feel alone, if we needed anything, it was there, from transport to home visits, grooming help and enough money to insure that these dogs got everything they could ever need.

Thank you, you people are amazing.

Danielle & Jeanne

 

October 7: Haven’t written about Daisy Mae in awhile, pups took over the limelight, figured that now is a good time for an update.

At around the time I wrote my last update about Daisey it looked to me like she might be developing a case of mange and since she was kenneled in the run I used for Baby last Summer… I wasn’t going to take any chances. Baby came here w/Sarcoptic mange, vet didn’t think she caught it from the run but again… not taking any chances. Had to wait for her mammary glands to deflate from the milk prior to spaying anyway and she was already separated from her pups. The timing seems to have all worked out.

She’s doing great, has lost her coat as females do after whelping a litter, is gaining some weight back and is feeling good in general.

So…..finally time to spay right?

HA……not according to Daisey’s plans… on September 23 she came into heat, 1 1/2 mos early according to my calculations, delaying her spay for another 3 weeks… sigh… and driving our youngest evil black dog NUTS!!!

Ahhhhhh… life w/dogs…

 

August 22: On August 1, at 3:30pm, Marlene was ‘taken down’ by an unruly Boxer at the boarding kennel breaking/fracturing her right ankle. She was by herself at the kennel, she picked herself up and somehow finished up the day’s duties and drove herself home. (keep in mind that the right foot is the driving foot….OUCH!!!)

At 10pm my phone rang and it was Marlene, first thought in my mind was….did Natalia bloat? Nope, Marlene called to ask me to come work at the kennel starting the next morning. I started the next morning and worked through the 19th w/only 2 days off.

Marlene was driving herself to work, cast and all, by Monday 8/5 and by week 2 in the cast, was running circles around Sidney (another kennel helper) and me. Her cast is coming off sometime in Sept. so I’ll be working at the kennel again Labor Day weekend since I’ll be off school bus driving duty.

The great thing about being at the kennel is that I have spent quite a bit of time w/Pa28/Natalia. She is still a basket case but she has learned to trust me enough to come up to me for petting sessions. Whenever I have tried to turn her loose on kennel grounds (as opposed to being in a run) she has completely freaked out and tried to get back into a run, any run. Unfortunately that is where she is most comfortable, I have even seen her sleeping upside down in her run.

I have decided, and don’t tell hubby, that if the right home hasn’t been found by the time Daisey Mae and her pups are adopted, that I will bring Natalia home, really work w/her and if needed…..adopt her myself (she actually looks a lot like my almost 15 yr old Deena, I wonder if they’re related…..)

 

August 15: Puppies? Did somebody say puppies? Where did they come from? Remember Rosie and Lily? There was a 3rd girl, Daisey Mae and her 1 week old puppies. They looked like Samoyed puppies until last week, I didn’t think they were ‘poofy’ enough and nobody’s ears were coming up. Thanks to help from a breeder on the left coast we have decided that Daisey Mae slept w/that pesky Lab!! Ron has put up a page for the puppy pics: Click Here.

 

June 28: Dawn continues to recover. She’s sick of being crated (in a big way) although she will readily get back in because I’ll give her a couple pieces of kibble as a reward. I had to get tires rotated and an oil change this morning so took her w/me for a change of scenery. She was glad to get back here and into the air conditioning but is now whining again about being crated.

2 days ago I had to use the obedience ‘match’ trick to get her to poop. With as much food/many little meals that she was eating I thought she should poop at least once daily so it was time for me to make it happen. The trick worked as it always does and now she’s pooping regularly and perfectly:)

 

June 25: Dawn continues to feel better. She’s eating like a champ, is sick of mini meals and wants OUT of her crate. Too bad, so sad, she’s going to be in there for a few…..

Her appointment at Muddy Creek Animal Hospital was great, she’s progressing as she should and her EKG was beyond perfect. We have another appointment in a week and will recheck her bloodwork at that time to make sure her platelets are where they should be.

 

June 23: Poor Dawn, placed in awesome homes twice and returned a week later through no fault of her own. If it wasn’t for bad luck the poor thing would have no luck at all. Well, trouble comes in three’s right? #3 hit us this morning…….

Marlene called to tell me Dawn didn’t eat breakfast, wasn’t interested in treats, drank a boatload of water and was laying down panting. Our first phone call happened immediately after I woke up, we decided to wait and see how she was this afternoon. I called the folks that wanted to adopt to ask if she’d gotten into anything, the answer was no. I then called Marlene back (after coffee) and we decided that, better safe than sorry, take her to the vets…..she was way too ‘off’ her normal boisterous self not to have her checked out. As an FYI, one of the things we always worry about when boarding our rescues is Bloat because they don’t have constant supervision. I am thankful that Marlene ‘is’ the kennel we use, she knows these dogs and never calls unnecessarily.

At the Emergency Vet we saw Dr. Coles, I’ve seen her before and I like her a lot. The exam didn’t show a whole lot, temp normal, heart and lungs fine and overall generally looking good. While she was palpating her abdomen she said something didn’t feel right so we decided on x-rays. 20 minutes later she came back and told me Dawn had Bloated, definitely not the diagnosis she expected:)

So, Dawn is at the vets having surgery. Good thing is that she wasn’t in distress so it should be an easy and unexciting Bloat surgery. Big huge thanks to Marlene for really knowing the dogs in her care, she has again saved the day, what would I do w/o her?

More once I hear from the vet…….

UPDATE: Dawn came through surgery fine and will stay with Danielle during recovery.

 

April 14: Life has been crazy for me lately, hubby hospitalized for awhile, better and home now, I’m training for a new job/career, that’s almost done too…..and of course rescue and my fur babies.

Zoey is doing great and is adjusting surprisingly well to me not being home all the time. It’s definitely helpful to have hubby home instead of working 15 hr days so that the dogs don’t have to hold it in forever waiting for me to get home. Her last beautiful grooming job is just about ruined thanks to being chewed on and rolled in the yard by her little black boyfriend.

My old dog Deena, 14 1/2 yrs old isn’t doing so well. Feeding her is a challenge meal by meal, somehow I can get something into her every day. Her rear end is falling apart w/what appears to be neurological symptoms but she can get herself up w/o help most of the time and does go out and off the deck to go potty.

The evil black dogs are all healthy, including 14 yr old Sally Mae Cuddle Bunny Bitchface:)

Happy Spring all……back to your regularly scheduled programming!

 

March 25: Zoey/DE19 has been doing well overall but last week she showed signs of having bloated. She was pacing, unable to lie down or get comfortable, panting and generally agitated and her belly was hard and painful to the slightest pressure. Having had a previous dog bloat I didn’t want to take any chances so last Monday night at 11pm off we went to the ER vet.

Turns out it was probably gas, I should have had a clue as she is a weird little dog and reacts differently to stuff. She’d gotten a hot spot on her tail a few weeks before and exhibited some of the same behavior plus yelping when she sat. Oh my, who knew that Zoey was/is a little Princess!!

Since she still wasn’t quite right the day after the ER vet we went for a visit to Muddy Creek where they couldn’t find anything wrong but did recheck her blood work. I am happy to announce that her anemia is finally gone:) It’s snowing like crazy this morning, will try to get some good pictures of her for the web site…….she’s not the most cooperative in this area.

In other news, we lost Kiki, he was fully recovered from his neuter and the fistulas on his butt were disappearing. It was a sad day for all of us especially Marlene as she’d gotten very attached to him.

Brent survived his dentistry but most of his teeth didn’t. His dentistry lasted 4 1/2 hrs, 3 vets worked on him. The tech that assisted for the last 2 hours saved the teeth that were removed during that period so I have a bag of teeth for Brent’s next family. I’ll take a picture if anyone wants to be grossed out:) He never missed a meal and is eating unsoftened kibble again. He’s been learning house training and no longer marks indoors….YEAH…the neuter is working!!

Dawn is still a fatty but Marlene has her on a diet. She too is doing really well in Marlene’s care. I have an adopter coming to meet her on Saturday, cross your paws!!

Natalia has also bloomed and is a very happy camper in spite of still being at the boarding kennel w/Marlene. I’ve had several inquiries for her but the homes weren’t right for her. I have to do this girl justice, she’s still a basket case so putting her in the wrong home just to get her adopted isn’t going to happen.

Last bit of news and it’s not good. A few weeks ago Chase was diagnosed w/major heart problems. He’s not been given very long to live, this news made his new Dad Matt very sad but also determined that however long it is, it will be the best possible.

 

Saturday, January 12: We’ve lost our first angel, said good bye to Suzie on Thursday, now she is pain free and running like the wind…..

She didn’t fully bounce back after her massive dental procedure. Yes, the swelling went down and she was feeling good and eating better than she ever had but her neurological signs and difficulty walking w/o falling down were back. When her face swelled up she was in horrible pain so got a shot of rymadil for it which meant we had to stop her prednisone. Another shot of rymadil after her dental and then a week’s wait before the pred could be started again.

As her face and eating got better her walking got progressively worse. We started the pred again but she still got worse no matter how much we gave her. It wasn’t just her back feet knuckling under, front feet were too so on Thursday Marlene took her to the vet to see if anything could be done to help her.

Unfortunately there was nothing they could do, they did determine that her neck was in great pain in addition to being unable to move unassisted and the light had gone out of her eyes…… Dr Taylor, Marlene and I were all devastated, it was time to say good bye…..

 

Sunday, January 6, 2013: No time for jet lag….. have already been to the kennel 4 times since i got home….. #5 coming up this afternoon!!!

Loki aka Abe/Pa3/Pa4/no tail…….is on his way home to New Hampshire w/his new parents. These folks have now adopted 3 dogs from us starting w/Diamond about 15 yrs ago. Loki went home w/Pa25’s folder…… oh well, doesn’t matter, the only Pa25 stuff in it is what the shelter did and they did the same thing for every dog. He does have Pa3’s stuff that we did in it so they’re set<lol> Can you tell that I have given up on this stuff at this point?

I also forgot to microchip him so will be mailing them the microchip to have their vet do it….. I’ll blame that oops on jet lag.

Lastly I want to apologize to them because they look a little funky in the pic I took….. again…. oh well, we only care about how Loki looks anyway:)         [Note: picture on PA4 page]

 

Saturday, December 22, 2012: Danielle is off for some well-deserved and much-needed R and R until 1/6/2013. During that time, if there is an emergency or other urgent rescue situation, please contact me at ellene347@gmail.com.  Thanks. — Ellen

And a word from your webmaster: Please continue sending updates on your adopted dogs, but so we don’t fill up Danielle’s mailbox please send them to ron@nwsams.com.

 

Friday, December 21: Another busy week, can’t even remember Monday but Tuesday was a biggie. Took De2/Too/Suzie to the vets for her surgery. See her new pics, she looks sooooooooooo much better and feels better too! They removed 6 teeth including the big molar that caused her face to swell up so badly. There was a big old pocket of yuck that they also got rid of and man is she feeling good and of course nothing has stopped her appetite!! She’s back to being a little wobbly on her feet as the itty bitty dose of Prednisone she was getting had to be stopped for the pain meds but it’ll start again on Sunday. This round of bloodwork showed her liver values to be a little off as well as her being pretty anemic. We tested her for Lymes and did a fecal in case either of these were causing anemia, all was negative so now we’re hoping it was being caused by the bad molar and that when she goes in for her recheck that she is back to normal.

Tuesday ended w/me taking Prince to the airport but I already told you that. Weds was a blurr of playing catch up, doing chores and trying to get ready for my trip.

Thursday started at 4:30am because I had to be at the boarding kennel at 6:30 to pick up Pa10 and 16 for their big day….. there was the most gorgeous sunrise that I took a crappy pcture of:) Those young ladies went to a wonderful home in Ontario, my ex sis inlaw took them halfway there and met up w/their new Mama who took them home. They were lucky not to hit any bad weather and everyone made it home safely. The girls are doing fantastic so far and even Pa10 has shown an improved personality.

Today was another blurr, again playing catch up and again trying to pack. Turns out I’m going to have to unpack everything because I can’t remember what I packed…. sigh. Anyhow, met another adopter at the kennel and sent them home with the dog we’ve been calling Chase since they got there. I sent them home w/the folder for Pa4, don’t know if it was the right one and at this point don’t really care. The stuff we did was for Chase and they got that, all the SPCA did was rabies and other vaccines so it doesn’t really matter. He and the adopter really hit it off, the adopter came w/2 friends so there were 5 of us there and the only people ‘old Chase’ went up to were Marlene and the adopter….. methinks it was love at first sight on both sides.

Tomorrow morning I’ll be back at the kennel to drop off 2 of my critters and to meet an adopter and Tamara who will be taking Pa21/Lia to her foster home. This last adopter is looking for a female am hoping that Natalia or Pa6 appeals to her…. we’ll see.

Then I’ll go home, finish packing, leave notes all over the house for my nephew who is house and petsitting the very old ones and then…… finally a desperately needed break from life as I know it. Pictures mentioned here are on the “other pictures” page.

 

Tuesday, December 17: If it could go wrong yesterday it did, PA18/Prince was scheduled to fly to Florida yesterday but I forgot his health certificate so had to come home to get it. The weather was mega-foggy so people were driving stupid. I crossed the bridge from Md to Va the traffic stopped and became a parking lot. There was no way I would be on time…..even if I hadn’t had to go home to get the health certificate first……so we cancelled/bailed. Next the poor adopter started trying to reschedule for today, she used 3 phone lines to contact United and was on hold for over 3 hours before she finally gave up for the night. She started again at 7am and by 8:30 had succeeded so YEAH……Prince will be home for Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little Miss De2/Too/Suzie went in for her dentistry/exploration etc this morning. They sent a probe into the swollen area, it was an infected root (YEAH) and not a tumor, then they x-rayed all her teeth to make sure that was the only one (which it was) and finally did an extraction as well as removed the little lump off her eyelid. She did well and is recovering nicely.

My cold is slowly getting better so I am less grumpy but I am mad that my odometer went over 100,000 miles 1015 miles ago and I didn’t get to watch it….well, you people knew I was wierd, crazy dog lady and all….. what did you expect?

OK, that’s it for now….. am going to get to Dulles on time as long as Northern Va drivers don’t mess me up!!

PART 2: OK, this ended up being another bad-ish day. I got Prince to the airport on time, 1 1/2 hrs early actually. I thought this would be good, plenty of time to do paperwork and give him a chance to get used to the noises. Took him for a walk and then found a spot on a sidewalk where I could sit and it was slightly sheltered hoping he’d get used to the sounds and relax a little. Well, he hid in between me and the bushes and never relaxed so back to the crate we went, he couldn’t get back into it fast enough. Eventually it was time to get the process going so I did. Leaving him there to fly to Florida was awful, the Delaware dogs were more well rounded mentally, this poor guy was so scared. The only positives were that he was in his sanctuary/crate and I knew he was going to an awesome home that would spoil him rotten.

He made it fine and is now acclimating to his new mom and life. I am so happy the 2 girls going to Canada on Thursday are going by car!!!! The Pa dogs don’t fly well so no more of that…..

 

Saturday, December 15: It’s been a few since I’ve written in the diary. I’ve been battling a cold, today it feels like I’m winning this battle but somehow I doubt it. I’ve spent most of my time trying to match the dogs to potential adopters, there is no point in placing these guys just to get them placed, everyone has to be set up for success. We want these dogs to go to their forever homes……forever.

My plan this morning was to get Pa1 and 20 into the tub before their ride arrived at 1:30…….well, that didn’t happen, poor De2/Suzie needed immediate vet care (see DE2’s page). I had warned Pa1/Abigail/Natia’s adopter that she might not be bathed but I still feel bad. Cassandra on the other hand wasn’t as scuzzy. THANK YOU NATALIA for taxiing these babies south for me!!!!

I had planned to microchip Cassandra before she left but that didn’t happen either because when I scanned her I found she was already microchipped and the number doesn’t match ANY of my paperwork……. sheesh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I started this whole thing thinking that my scanner didn’t work and the whole time the dogs were mixed up. The mix ups have become ridiculous, I think the first dog photographed on Pa4’s page is a bitch…… whatever….. doesn’t matter anymore…….

Tomorrow there are 2 potential adopters coming to the kennel, hopefully 2 more of these babies go home for Christmas. On Monday Pa4/Adam who is in reality Pa18/Prince is going to his new home. Thursday Pa10/Phyllis who is being renamed Anya and Pa16/Seraphin who is being renamed Layla are starting their drive to the Great White North to be adopted together thanks to taxi help from my ex sister inlaw, THANK YOU BLADE!!!

That’s all for now. Sorry, am tired and sick and muddling through the week:)

 

Wednesday, December 12: Last 3 spays went in today (except for old lady PA2). PA1 had a small mammary tumor so it was removed and sent out for biopsy, i fully expect it to be benign like the others. Turned out PA20 was already spayed so she just got knocked out and lastly all normal for PA6’s spay. We asked for the vet to check PA20’s eyesight, turns out she has cataracts. It’s not the end of the world, dogs do perfectly well when they lose their sight and she’ll have hers for years to come.

Did the last 3 Heartworm/Lyme/Ehrlichia tests, PA1 was the only positive so then out of 18 PA dogs, 13 were positive for Lymes only.

Been trying to match these dogs with potential adopters and have been a little successful. I’ve found homes for PA1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 so far(and Oona is staying w/her foster mom) Am worried about PA13/Chase and 21/Lia because they’re both seniors. This placement business has been made extra hard because the dogs and pictures are all mixed up, am depending on my knowledge of their personalities and our adoption application. The other difficult aspect in placing thse guys is that we have a lot of out of area applications, people want the dogs but cannot travel to get them……well guess what? my time is limited, i cannot deliver each dog so am enlisting as much help as possible as homes are found.

 

Tuesday, December 11: First I want to say that all the PA dogs are mixed up. If you look at their individual pages the original pictures taken don’t match the new ones. The pictures are not how we’re placing these dogs so for me, it doesn’t matter. Today I can tell you that one foster home has fallen prey to it’s foster dog, DE3 is now adopted. PA3, named Adam by Delaware boarding kennel is also adopted and will be going to his new home early next week.

Today I also want to clarify why the vet bills last week were so high because I hear people are freaking out a little:) Each of the 8 neuters had an extensive exam that paid extra attention to ears and feet/paws, they also had pre-op bloodwork and had their teeth scaled. 2 spays were just spays and teeth scaling, 1 spay had a teeth scaling and bloodwork, 1 spay had bloodwork, teeth scaling, x-rays, large mammary tumor removed and a biopsy, 1 spay was already spayed so had bloodwork, a formal dental, small mammary tumors removed, an x-ray, big gun antibiotics and a biopsy….. and then there was PA2 who’s now been named Joy….. no spay, boodwork, a pile of x-rays (lungs, abdomen and dental), a formal dental and 2 kinds of antibiotics. Spay clinics are great for healthy dogs but with the DE dogs bleeding out, there is no way these guys were going to one:)

That’s all for now, gotta clean the barn and make more phone calls.

 

Monday, December 10: Ellen and I spent hours going over the applications today and have started contacting potential homes for the PA dogs. I will contact everyone at some point.

Got a call from Dr Taylor with mammary biopsy results PA28 and PA21….. all margins clear and all tumors benign WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! Now we pray for Pa2’s surgery to go well and for her to be benign also. She has since been named Joy…..perfect name for her:)

Now to make dinner…..

 

Sunday, December 9: Recovering from a rough night, hubby gave our 9 mos old Belgian a few Almonds and he reacted badly. Went to bed at 10pm hoping to catch up on sleep but Percy got me up at 11:30pm, 2am, 4:25am and finally 7:11am….. during the 2am wake up call I didn’t get him out fast enough so diarrhea on kitchen rug and when I checked his crate found that he’d vomited. Needless to say was up ’til 3am ‘cleaning’…..

Ron says that people probably want to know specifics of how we’re spending donations so here’s a week in the life of MidAtlantic Samoyed Rescue starting with Jeanne sending me a check in the amount of 10,000.00….. spent it in a week!!!

DelMarVa Pet Resort, kennel Pa dogs stayed in before bringing them here……$4641.00

Reimbursed Ellen for DE9’s vet bill when she had post-spay bleeding…………278.26

Belair Vet Hospital: 1st 4 neuters……………………………………..1380.50

Belair Vet Hospital: last 4 neuters plus extra vet stuff I asked for……….1308.00

Current Kennel being used (1 week, 17 dogs)……………………………..2115.00

And since there was $277.24 left I gave our usual vet’s office that amount. Still owe them a little over $4000 for the 6 dogs they saw this week.

PA2’s name might be Lily, she’s off to a Christmas party where she will see DE13 and meet her foster parents. Foster parents will adopt once we’ve gotten all her health stuff taken care of including her spay and mega mammary tumors removed. I am happy to announce that the antibiotics she is getting for the swelling in her jaw are working, the swelling is half the size that it was…..yippeeee……will probably still need to have that cracked canine tooth removed but at least we know it’s not a tumor in her jaw!!

OK….already been to the kennel once today, going back now:)

 

Saturday, December 8: I did 4 more Heartworm/Lymes/Ehrlichia tests Thursday evening, I got all excited because only 1 was negative and happily started picking everything up, tubes and tests etc………just as another test turned positive….. damn…….

I knew who the first positive was but had already mixed up the other 3 tubes of blood so I did 3 more tests to find out which was the second positive. Thank goodness I only have 3 more of these babies to test AND 2 of our previous adopters are giving me their unused Doxycycline!!!

Yesterday Tam came to photograph and video the dogs while I tried to organize meds for everyone for the Lymes as well as Hookworms. Eventually I finished my part and then explained to Marlene while helping during the video process as much as I could. I had to leave before Tam was done but Marlene was kind enough to continue until all the dogs had a video.

When I left I took Kirby with me as he went to his new home and will be living w/one of his littermates:) I think he thought I was taking him to be neutered again as he was very quiet. Once he met his new parents he was back to his happy go lucky self though. I’ll send pictures tomorrow, sorry, no energy.

Went to hubby’s company X-mas party last night, didn’t want to but had a good time. Got home very late, up early this morning to do stuff around here and then go to another X-mas function (and I thought dealing w/Delaware dogs and Thanksgiving was bad………….) Trying to catch up w/email again…..I seriously doubt I ever will.

Tomorrow’s plan is to take PA22 (real name is possibly Lily) to her ride to her foster parents who will adopt once all medical issues are taken care of in the morning and in the afternoon meet up w/a potential adopter for one of the boys. Tonight I am going to bed early!!!

 

Thursday, December 6: Fun in the kitchen today:) Been collecting purple top tubes as dogs go in for their surgeries and ordered some Heartworm tests that also did Lymes and Ehrlichia (not what we normally use but so glad to have them) Did 10 tests, 2 were neg and 8 were positive for Lymes only, YEAH…..no HW+ doggies!!!! Next step….order more Doxy cause each dog should be treated for 6 weeks which means 84 tablets each. Oh nooooooooo….. Doxy is on backorder for an unknown amount of time…….. yikes…… what to do what to do. Aha…… give everyone a 2 week supply (28 tabs each) and have new owners get the rest from their vet….. okeedokee….. done! 7 more tests to do, hope I have enough…..

Now for updates using the #’s we think are correct:

PA2…old lady, she only got a dental yesterday but not a full one. Her lower left canine is cracked, yellow and broken off, there is also a large swelling below it on her jaw so she’s on antibiotics for 2 weeks to see if an extraction is needed. The did an xray and the swelling is soft tissue, next they did an aspiration and did not see cancer cells, cross your paws. The other reason for the 2 week wait is because this girl eats rocks and Taylor wants to wait until they are out of her system before spaying. Her spay will be a hard one as she will also have an entire chain of mammary glands removed, so many tumors. (Lymes+)

PA21..kennel named her Bertha, REAL name is Lia….. another old lady:) She had a spay scar so had her mammary tumors removed and a dental. She fared well and was acting mostly normal this morning. She too is on antibiotics plus some pain meds. (Lymes+)

PA22..Natasha, real name Natashia….. had a normal spay, no lumps and went home w/her new mom and grandma last night. Don’t have an update yet. (Lymes+)

PA28….Natalia, was in heat and had one big mammary tumor. She did well for surgery, I left her at the vets overnight. (Lymes+)

PA16…Saraphin is being spayed while I type, no tumors on her so I expect all to go well. (Lymes+)

PA 10…..is also being spayed as I type, we microchipped her last night, no lumps so all should be fine. (Lymes NEG)

PA13…Chase is acting totally normal, he’s the other Lymes NEG dog.

PA19 Kirby is doing great and Marlene says is even walking better. (Lymes+)

PA4 and PA26…Bruiser are both fine post surgery and also both Lymes+. also heard back on the boy’s ‘representative’ fecal that it was positive for Hookworms. Will start treating all of them Saturday after the anesthesia has worn off.

Last 4 boys are getting neutered today, will get purple top tubes and do their tests tonight. 3 more girls will be scheduled for their spays next week.

 

Wednesday, December 5: OK, I am going to go CRAZY, these dogs are all mixed up and now I’m p.o.’d at the shelter for supplying a crappy marking system and the boarding kennel for their part in the mix up.

Turns out PA16 is actually PA22/Natasha so she’s the one getting adopted this afternoon. PA2 (who I haven’t evaluated yet because she is in standing heat) is actually PA28/Natalia….. so…… old PA22 has now been labelled as A2….. sheesh!!!!  (Note:website is not corrected yet)

Here we go w/updates:

PA2 (old 22) had a small spot on her lungs that ‘could’ be a nipple, she also has rocks in her tummy that are working their way out. Her teeth were horrible so today she’s getting a dental only, Dr Taylor didn’t wanto do spay and dental together and didn’t want to spay until rocks have been pooped out. She’ll have a spay and half her boobs removed next week and will be going into foster care (i hope) directly after surgery.

PA21….had clear lungs and what appears to be a spay scar (too small a scar for a c-section) but her teeth were also beyond horrible so she’s getting a dental and her lumps removed today. They did an ultrasound looking for her uterus and didn’t see it, plus she’s a little chunky.

PA22/Natasha (old 16) has is lucky, she’s only getting spayed!!!!

PA28 (was 2 but I hadn’t written about her yet) also has one large mamary tumor, her lungs were clear so she’s having a spay and lumpectomy today.

Tadah….. that’s it for now but I do want to make a request: for those of you out there picking dogs you want to adopt from the pictures taken 3 weeks ago, STOP IT!!!  We need to get to know these dogs and their personalities so we can determine what kind of home will be best for them. Thanks:)

 

Tuesday, December 4: Yesterday I met Ellen at the kennel in hopes of getting a bunch of baths done, we got who I thought was PA22/Natasha groomed, turned out it was PA21……. oops….. they do lot alike and I grabbed her from her excersize run and not her indoor room. We would have done more but Marlene wasn’t feeling well so we only stayed during her normal schedule.

21 did get a bath today and was good as gold and now smells good. PA22 on the other hand is still kind of grundgy and even though she’s scheduled for a spay tomorrow, it may not happen. I took them both to the vets tonight so they could have a geriatric profile because as it turns out they are both seniors. Oh and by the way, PA22 is supposed to me microchipped, I was mad at my scanner for not picking it up, well duh… wrong dog….. BUT, the vet has a universal scanner and it found no microchip in either dog. I don’t know where things went wrong keeping track of these dogs but we’ll get it figured out.

They pulled the blood, sent it out and Dr Taylor gave them each an exam (she’s doing surgeries tomorrow) She called me 40 mins after they closed to discuss, turns out both have mamary tumors, PA22 worse than 21. She said she could spay 21 and do lumpectomies but that 22 has so many that we need to explore a bit before putting her through any surgery. Both will have their lungs x-rayed in the morning and we’ll go from there.

This morning I brought 4 of the boys in for their neuters, PA4, 13/Chase, 19/Kirby and 26/Bruiser. All did really well for surgeries and were a bunch of dopey guys when I picked them up. Turns out that Kirby does not have cancer, it was a hernia, apparently some of the intestinal sheath? was in the ball sack. This explains why the testicles appeared so much smaller this morning than on Sunday. He still looks like he has a load in his ‘draws’ when he walks.

I left home this morning at 7am, got back here at noon and stayed an hr to clean up all the diarrhea we woke up to this morning w/the carpet cleaner, took my car to the shop to get the brake light fixed, home again to let my dogs out before starting my vet kennel vet kennel taxi services again. Got home around 6:45pm, fed the dogs, fed the husband and then tried answering ‘some’ email. Going to bed soon because it starts again tomorrow but do want to share the couple pics I took today of Marlene and Too……. oh boy is this a love affair……… fyi…. Too goes home with her every night.

 

Saturday, December 1: I was stupid yesterday, I was tired so didn’t move or wash any crates. 2 of the crates used yesterday are used daily here. I’d left Percy loose one night before and everything was fine, I should have known things would be different last night when he kept jumping in my face when I was trying to fall asleep. Or when I was awakened an hour later to the sound of him chewing something?? I finally HAD to wake up at 4:30-ish to the sound of paper being shredded and discovered that one of my shoes had fallen victim overnight……. bad Danielle, bad Danielle…… what a crappy way to start the day. I’m sure that had the crate graveyard been in my yard instead of my neighbor’s Percy would have slept in one last night….. oh well……..  I can say that 4 of the crates have been cleaned and the rest will be cleaned tomorrow:)

I had a depressing event to attend this morning, then home to let the dogs out and after that off to the kennel to meet the ‘Suckers’. I’d planned to do some baths after they left but Marlene and I ended up hanging out and observing as well as handling this batch of dogs.

For the most part this bunch is healthier and definitely more active. We’re also seeing aggression (dog to dog) in the males and several fearful females. Most of these dogs are much much bigger than the Delaware dogs so we have to assume they are from different lines (duh) and again, all these guys are gorgeous, some are show stoppers. I’ll be back at the kennel tomorrow to really do some baths and will explore these cuties some more.

 

Friday, November 30: Today was another long one, we started late because of technical difficulties but that meant some of us got a nice breakfast so…… not so bad. I rode with Karla, Doug, Ellen and DE9 while Tam and Wendy led and followed w/Gidget. Once on the road it only took a couple hours to get to the kennel in Delaware where the Pa dogs have been playing for the last couple weeks. We were a little slow loading them up and thankfully I came up a better labeling system for the dogs and crates. Each crate was labelled using a piece of duct tape with the dog’s name and # on it so that when we delivered them to Marlene we could grab a dog and it’s ‘label’ and move them quickly.

I have to say that the couple weeks spent at the Delmarva Pet Resort did these dogs wonders!!!! The skittish weren’t as skittish and in some cases it disappeared altogether. This was a much happier bunch of dogs than who we first met at the shelter. They were also much happier for and during their ride. Last time I saw these guys I literally had to crawl into the crate w/PA4 to get him out, this time he was still a little hesitant but came to the door:) It was a very good day!!!!!

DE9 was a dream for the whole trip, she loved riding w/us and fell asleep several times (lucky girl!!) She has also been named, thank you Ellen for coming up w/yet another perfect name…… she is now known as Chanel…… get it? We think that with a little more time that Karla and Doug will adopt Chanel…… Doug even pulled up to pump #9 to get gas……..

OK…. am pooped so that’s it for today, when Tam gets home there will be more pictures coming…… pics of the dogs, not like mine of the fun we had AND she took a special video that is appropriately titled.

 

Thursday, November 29: It’s been a few days since I’ve written anything, been gearing up for tomorrow and playing catch up on my own life. Marlene helped me remove the horrible discomfort from my adult evil black dogs today, they were matted and needed their undercoat taken out. They are both so much happier right now and they smell good too!! I am a bad mom…… will work on 14 yr old Deena next week.

It’s very very dangerous for Nineteen to be here, husband is growing attached……. this is a big big problem…… denisenationitis is a fatal disease and seems to be settling into this household……. I took a picture of THAT face!! (on 19’s page)

Other new pictures are of the snazzy shiny trailer we’re using to bring home the 17 Pa dogs tomorrow (on the “other pictures” page). That thing is just gorgeous, am already feeling bad for it. Thank you again Doug and Karla for donating it’s use and your time to haul it. Big day tomorrow and Tam will be there taking a bunch of pics to record the event!!

 

Monday, November 26: 19 continues to do well, she had a little discharge yesterday but it was ‘old’ blood so nothing to worry about. I took a pic of her w/her attacker…. Riggs. He’s more than twice her size and look, she’s on his butt again annoying him again and just asking for it. She’s been eating well as long as the other dogs are around, not quite sure what to do w/most human food offered but as now learned to lick the yogurt container along w/the puppies:)

In other news Three spent the holiday weekend w/my sister inlaw and yesterday I returned her happily to her foster family. We do have paws crossed that the foster situation turns into an adoption:)

 

Sunday, November 25: First, 13 is doing fantastic, he’s building some muscle, going for longer walks and adjusting beautifully to being inside a house. Stairs are still mostly foreign to him but he’ll learn those at some point. We’ve discovered something hilarious about all these Delaware dogs, they like to shred stuff, paper, plastic and some of the younger ones even do fabric (#1 has a stuffie graveyard). 13 has been unpacking foster Dad’s boxes for 2 weeks now, amazingly w/o breaking any of the glassware!!

I took yesterday off and did absolutely nothing for the most part. Am feeling the same today but will get off my butt today and start getting geared up for the next batch of dogs.

19 ate for me Friday night when I put her in her bedtime crate, turns out I need to be up front and in her face for her to eat. She ate breakfast and dinner yesterday too but it had to be in the kitchen w/ALL the other dogs including my evil black dogs. She absolutely hates to be alone so I’m going to have to move her front porch crate into the kitchen w/the puppy’s ctrates for when I have to leave them. I would leave her loose in the kitchen but discovered she gets bored when yesterday she deided she would shred the plastic covering on a case of water bottles:) All in all she is doing very well and I am amazed that she is doing as much interacting w/my adults so soon. She loves the idea going in and out of the house and has mastered the 5 steps off the back deck (she usually skips the bottom one when going down and is kinda slow coming back up but she does do it).

 

Friday, November 23: First I want to say that I am thankful for the outpouring of love for these dogs, it’s as overwhelming as our little rescue group getting in this many dogs in such a short time period.

Next I want to thank Doug Karla Perez for volunteering their 28 ft VERY nice car trailer to transport the 17 Pa dogs closer to us, we have tentatively planned this transport for Friday Nov 30th. They’ll also be volunteering their truck to pull this the trailer as well as their time!! Should be a fun adventure and of course we’ll take lots of pictures.

I went to visit Marlene at the boarding kennel today, mostly to pay our bill (which has shrunk considerably…YEAH) When I got there she had a surprise for me…….Too is now getting herself up and walking on her own. We’d stopped the Rimadyl last Fiday as it wasn’t doing anything for her and yesterday Marlene started another course of Prednisone. Two 10mg doses and it’s a miracle!!!! Most of the neurological problem signs are gone and she’s still stiff as a board but she was happy, I haven’t seen her this happy since the video was taken. Marlene I are thrilled as we’ve been talking about quality life. I left a voicemail for Dr Taylor, I know she’ll be happy also.

I tried doing a little grooming on 19 Weds, typical old lady, she hates it<lol> She continues to thrive here but I think I made a big boo-boo w/her, Weds night I gave her a little piece of steak, she didn’t know what to do with it at first but had it down pat for the second piece. Same thing happened w/turkey yesterday and now she won’t eat her food!! Not to worry, she’s a little porky and can lose a couple pounds. She was a big hit at Thanksgiving, sucking up to anyone who came near and amazingly all the dogs were on best behavior.

I started doing some close encounters between 19 and my adult dogs, walking her or them near the other in quick pass fashion to get them used to each other. This morning I had them all out in the backyard together w/o incident. My adults mostly stay away from her. They KNOW the mama is protecting her. She on the other hand goes right up to sniff them, thankfully my dogs know I’m watching. I unfortunately had my back turned once and oe of the evil black dogs snapped at her because she was too close. No damage done, will leave the back door wide open in the future in order not to have my back turned.

Lastly, my husband who really doesn’t like having foster dogs here is falling in love w/19 too…….one cannot help themselves with this little one:)

 

Tuesday, November 20: I brought #19 home from the vets yesterday evening, she was happy to see me and peed outside the vets office. I also decided that since she’s further away from the ‘danger’ zone that maybe it was time to start introducing her to my dogs……. slowly. As an fyi, my dogs are not the easiest to get along with, in fact some of them are complete buttheads. There was some menacing and ferocious behavior from both sides so the separation continued but the barriers loosened.

Well, Princess 19 was not at all happy with her situation, I don’t blame her of course, and she started the howling…… something she hadn’t done before. Hubby and I both felt sorry for her so we split our time between her and our dogs.

Nearing bed time I let our guys out for their last potty break and took Princess 19 for a walk where she did nothing.

The howling continued and escalated, there wasn’t going to be any sleep in this house if I didn’t do something so I decided 19 would sleep w/the puppies and I (puppies are crated at night) and I would shut the door on the adults. Getting her in was fun, had to carry her and bully my way through my dogs and once in the bedroom we had a little barking from the pups but nothing that couldn’t be talked down.

She was restless and pacing, then she started doing little circles and then she let her bladder go<lol> I got up, turned the lights back on, cleaned up and then tried that sleeping thing again. Again she started the circling and voila….. mega poop!!!!! Got up, lights on, cleaned up, sprayed a bunch of air freshener and tried the sleep thing again.

She curled up in a little teeny tiny ball and slept by my side all night. Will try more introductions today, cross your paws, not sure it’ll ever work w/these personalities.

 

Monday, November 19: Sorry for the delay, my day started slow yesterday then was disrupted by a car that wouldn’t start. Gee….I must have killed the battery somehow, thank goodness for triple A:)

I was on pins and needles all weekend, had to keep 19 quiet and blood pressure low, not an easy task when the little princess is sick of being in a crate. We did go out and about and she met some new people who of course fell for her charms…… she is just soooooooooooo cute!!!!

This morning EARLY, I took her back to Muddy Creek Animal Hospital for her ‘re-spay’…….phew, we survived the weekend and now she’s in a safe place if things go wrong.

At about noon I got a call from a strange #, turns out it was the vets office, they’d lost thir phone system and were using cell phones. Talked to Dr Gray and Dr Nisson (aka Dr God). 19 was originally Dr N’s patient but today was Dr Gray’s surgery day and she was Dr taylor’s patient over the weekend. Turns out LOTS of Dr’s were involved in this one, could be the 20-way conference calls are what blew out the phone lines!!

19’s hematocrit was back to normal, she’d only spotted a little on Saturday morning, she was bright eyed and hairless tailed (poor tail is pathetic) so after talking it out with the specialist and poor Dr N reviewing hundreds of cases over the weekend…… plus of course #’s 9 and 12 having similar symptoms…….. the decision was made not to do surgery unless she starts bleeding out again. They are pretty sure this whole thing was a result of a reaction to suture material. She’s to remain on antibiotics for another week and watched closely as well as kept quiet (she’s not very happy about quiet time of course).

In the meantime, little Miss 19, SWF, is looking for a quiet home w/full time parent(s). She would prefer to be an only spoiled child but will tolerate a submissive weenie of a brother.

 

Saturday, November 17: Nineteen is alive and well and I am so glad we explored the cause of her near death experience.

Yesterday I was up at 5am to prep for the flying dogs so I called the specialists which is a 24 hr emergency hospital to see how 19 had fared overnight. She’d done well, they’d kept her drugged (my vet had given her ace and morphine to slow her heart which slowed blood pressure which slowed bleeding), she spotted a little but not enough to warrant a transfusion. The specialist was due in at 8am and they’d call me after she was scoped.

At 7am-ish I got a call from Ellen who is fostering #9 telling me that she had left some large clots in her crate overnight. Needless to say we freaked and 9 went to Ellen’s vet for the day so we could figure out what was going on. 9 was acting fine and had eaten some of her breakfast, also her clots were not as bis 19’s and not a ‘bleeding out’ situation.

Heard from the specialist (Dogs and Cats Veterinary Referal…what the heck…free advertizing) right after the airport fun. They said that 19 has a tumor or abcess near the end of her spay stump, it was too bloody to determine which, did we want them to send out a biopsy?

Thankfully this is an easy fix, well…..not so easy on her, kinda like being spayed again. Spoke to Dr Taylor after she spoke to the specialist and Ellen’s vet as well as read the notes from 19’s pyo/spay. She thinks that it’s probably an abcess due the the fact that these uteruses are old and worn out. They’re not even sure if 19’s pyo was a real pyo, it could have been a burst abcess that spilled the slime out of her because her uterus wasn’t huge/seriously oversized when they removed it.

I picked up 19 at the specialists, she was happy to see me, her tail was up and the light was back in her eyes. The main thing between Friday and her surgery Monday was to watch for more bleeding. I decided to take her home. On the way here I stopped at the kennel to pay the bill and pick up her meds. Marlene told me #12 had some clots too, not bad ones and she was eating well and running around like the nut she is. I told her about 9 and 19’s results, we decided to watch her. No problems so far.

Since 19 has been here I have kept her away from all but one of my dogs. The point is to keep her calm and quiet until monday. My dogs can be buttheads and they won’t take kindly to her attitude…….yes, she even has her ‘tude’ back!! The one dog of mine I let her interact with was Percy, our 8 mos old Belgian pup, he’s a total weenie. They met for about 5 mins, he play bowed, she lunged at him, he sniffed, she growled, she sniffed……he tried to get away…….i wasn’t going to prolong his torture.

FROM ELLEN: #9 is starting to feel better. No further spotting/bleeding since returning from the vet’s office this afternoon. She not only ate all of her dinner, she dug in with gusto. In fact, she let me know that she was there and waiting as I was getting the bowls ready. I fed #1 first, since he wasn’t getting anything added to his bowl, and she was not happy about that/was afraid I had forgotten her. When I put her outside after her dinner, she stood at the door, telling me she wanted back in. She does settle down in her crate, but you can tell she’s not thrilled about it — that’s a BIG improvement over the dog who retreated into the crate and needed to be coaxed out.

 

Friday, November 16: Danielle will update the diary later. Here is a summary.

Danielle and Jeanne met Mike at United Cargo this morning with five dogs for Denver and one for Northwest rescue. Wendy met them there and left there w/16 to take him to Breezewood Pa where Charley picked him up and took him home for the night. He will take him to Columbus Oh tomorrow.

At the terminal they were surprised when the agent told them they were contractors, not part of United any more, and there would be no discounts. The dogs were all shipped at regular prices. Then on the way home, Mike was called and asked to return. The agent called a supervisor and was told to ship all five at the discounted employee rate. That made the day a lot better. All five dogs have now reached their destinations. They are 5, 6, 10, and 17 (to Denver Samoyed Rescue) and 14 (to Northwest Samoyed Rescue).

Number 19 was scoped by the specialist this morning and one additional surgery will take care of the bleeding. Number 9 is showing the same symptoms but not as badly, and will be watched closely overnight.

 

Thursday, November 15: Today SUCKED, it was the worst day for me since all this mega dog stuff started. Today was the day I didn’t have to do my rounds from kennel to vet and back again but the phone rang at 7:15…………

Marlene called to tell 19 was bleeding bad. I was at the kennel in 20 mins to pick her up and another 20 mins brought us to the vets, record time. Our first thought was that something from her pyo surgery came apart but if that was true then she’d be bleeding internally. She was literally bleeding out from her vulva, it was that much. My vet gave her morphine and acepromazine to slow her heartrgo slow the bleeding. It worked. They also did an ultrasound that showed her surgery ‘stumps’ were intact and nothing in the bladder.

Next, I probably made the worst ‘financial’ decision ever concerning these dogs. I was given a few choices for 19, a) a blood transfusion then wait to see what happens, b) take her to a specialist, have her vulva scoped to see what’s going on and hopefully fix it or c) euthanize.

Under normal circumstances this would be a no brainer, specialist/fix her if possible but dang…… this whole million dog thing is expensive,spending that much money on one dog when there are 17 more that haven’t seen the vet yet, how do I justify this?

I called Jeanne, no help so I called Ron and Kathy next and after a little crying….. sorry folks for a bad financial decision………. I picked “b”.  [Editor’s note from Ron: It was the right decision]

It’s not 19’s fault that she had a crappy past, we have to at least find out if she is fixable. Tonight she is at a 24 hr referal hospital, they will monitor her tonight and give transfusions if necessary, specialist comes in tomorrow. We are getting a 20% discount thanks to my vet laying the foundation but it’s still going to be a lot. Everyone please pray for an easy fix, pray hard.

Meanwhile, big day tomorrow, I am both physically and mentally exhausted……good night.

 

Wednesday, November 14: Yesterday (11/14) was a good day, took 5 and 14 to the vets for their health certificates. 14 was pretty cool, when we first got her she would just lay there if you tried to walk her on a leash. Now she walks on a leash like any other normal dog, thank you Marlene!!!!! Took them back to the kennel after the vets and went to the kennel where the Alabama boys still were and they got adopted for real this time (and just in the nick of time too as my deadline is in 2 days) Their adopters hadn’t planned on 2 dogs but hubby had a soft spot and insisted that they couldn’t be separated. Happy ending for those 2, the previous dog they adopted from us lived to be 15 yrs old.

 

Tuesday, November 13: Slept badly last night, incoming rain always messes w/me.

Up early and out by 7am to pick Too up from boarding kennel for a day at the vets. She’s really wobbly has been falling down more and more. They did x-rays, couldn’t find any glaring tumors (doesn’t mean they’re not there) but did see some major spondolosis and wierd places in her spine where it looks like there is no space between vertibrae. Dr Taylor isn’t sure what is causing the falling down but does think it’s neurological and suggested it could be something as simple as the Revolution I applied on Friday. If that’s it then all symptons should disappear in 2 weeks. She’s not in pain when she falls and is generally a happy camper, Marlene gave her a big rawhide bone…….she can’t do anything with it but it’s hers and she is happy to lick it<lol>

Speaking of Marlene……as I was getting ready to leave the kennel this morning, she looked at me w/puppy dog eyes and asked where Too was going to sleep tonight. I told her at the vets because I had to work and could never get her back before closing and she said she ould pick Too up because Too should sleep at home. Marlene also keeps asking me who will foster Too, where will she go? I tell her probably me and she gives me a sly look….. hmmmm wonder what that could mean? Dr Taylor also found Too to have dry eye in the eye w/the big tumor and lastly, I asked them to give Too a bath w/the special relief shampoo since I have been delinquent w/that as well.

One more vet announcement, 17’s biopsy came back today, her breast tumors were benign…… WAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s all, I actually went to work today and am exhausted tonight…….

 

Monday, November 12: Today I finished washing the crates, started finalizing what I need to do for the 5 dogs flying out of here in a few days, got caught up on thank you cards, have been trying to catch up on email w/o success, did stuff around here that’s been waiting for me forever it seems. I had planned to give 12 a bath but I just wasn’t up to it so she gets to suffer a little longer. Spoke to Marlene who told me Too is bad off again so she’ll be going back to the vets in the morning before I go to work. That’s all for Monday, back to trying to catch up on email… still 279 emails not opened yet… and mindless computer games until bedtime.

 

Sunday, November 11: Good day today, 2 of these babies went to forever homes and then spent the next few hrs w/tamara while she took pics of those left at the kennel including videos of each dog. 4 and 11 were adopted today. 1, 3, 9 and 13 are in foster care. 16 is getting adopted thursday.

5, 6, 10 and 17 are going to dsr/denver, 14 is getting adopted by ron and kathy.

left in the kennel are too (too sick for anyone at the moment), 12, 19.

#’s available for adoption are : 1, 3, 9, 13, 12 and 19.

UPDATE: Sunday was a big day at the kennel, slept in….wahooo……’til 7am…..fed the barn, fed the dogs etc and off to meet 2 sets of adopters and Tamara to take them to the boarding kennel. Results, 2 adoptions, 4 and 11 and after several hours and oodles of patience from Tamara…..lots of new pictures and videos of the dogs still at the kennel. Thank you Tamara!! and thank you Marlene for putting up with as well as helping us so much!!!

Came home, washed some crates, took a long nap, played mindless computer games after a little email, ignored the phone and went to sleep.

First crate pic at the bottom of this page the crates i still need to clean, second pic 6 clean crates and 2 that are soaking cause they have some icky stuff that wouldn’t ‘scrub’ w/o me getting into the crates and sorry, cannot fit so soaking it is.

 

Saturday, November 10: UPDATE: Up again at 7, fed the barn, dogs etc and back to the vets to pick up yesterday’s surgeries. 17 did well for her spay but during the exam they found 2 mammary lumps. Those were removed and biopsied (no results yet) paws crossed for good results. Had planned to give poor 12 a bath but Too was sick so i took her back to the vets. Poor old Too, vet says she’s 6 yrs old but there is no way. She was hunched up, didn’t eat breakfast as robustly as usual and her tail was down. Left her there and headed to Office Depot….at last….to organize all the paperwork and make up folders for each dog.

Back to the vets to pick up Too, they didn’t really find anything painful or anything that stood out to cause her problem but did prescribe Rymadil to see if that would help. It did, her tail and appetite came back…..still hunched though. I met up w/Ellen who came and picked up 1 and 9 to foster, thank you Ellen!!!

Went home and started washing crates, then out to dinner w/mom.

 

Friday, November 9: UPDATE: 7am – Went to vets to pick up yesterday’s surgeries. Once safely dropped off at kennel and tucked in I went to get another truck for the 18 pa dogs. Came home, loaded crates and then off to the races for the next batch of dogs. Got to the shelter around 12:30pm, met up w/Tamara Sommerville and Jan Lynch who drove up from DC and Va to help me. It took about 45 mins to arrange crates, meet all the dogs and sign paperwork ore we started loading up the dogs. This bunch of dogs were much larger than the Delaware dogs so I really didn’t have enough crates. Thankfully the shelter gave me a bunch.

Tamara topics of every dog, am sure they’ve been seen by everyone by now. These guys were more scared than the Delaware dogs, am not surprised, their whole worlds were being turned upside down yet again. As a plus, this group seemed healthier than the others but unfortunately they weren’t spayed and neutered as I’d hoped they’d be. We loaded 16 dog the truck and Jan took Oona and a male in her car. This process brought us to about 3:30pm. NJ Debby showed up after work in hopes of taking one of the girls into foster care but with no spays and neuters it wasn’t going to happen. I felt bad that she’d come all that way but she was fine wth it.

We finally left the shelter at around 4pm, I was hungry and needed food while Jan needed gas. On our way out she found gas and I found Mc Donalds (yuk) and of course bought 20 double cheeseburgers so the dogs could have some. Some ate, some didn’t. Then……back on the road…..which was hilarious w/Jan and Tamara, Tam brought walkie-talkies so we could keep in touch and we each had a GPS. Tam and my GPS sent us on one route while Jan’s took us a different way so we were always discussing the route. We did get separated once, my GPS forgot to tell me to turn off the highway so Jan got off correctly and Tam followed me. Driving through the little towns back to the road we needed to be on was hilarious. At every stop the truck would bark and shake and at a few stops it howled.

We reached the boarding kennel around 7pm and took the next 2 hrs unloading the dogs and making sure we didn’t get anyone mixed up. The kennel started off using their #’s instead of the dog’s shelter #’s so we had a little mix up there but it got straightened out quickly. Most of the dogs were happy to get out of the crates/off the truck, all happy to pee….oh did the boys ever christen the trash can. There was one boy that did NOT want to come out of the box, he was terrified so i saved him for last. Don’t ask me which one he was. I ended up having to get into the crate w/him to put a leash on as well as pull on his legs a little to get him started. Once out and on the ground he was much better and was happy to pee on everything he could:)

The kennel stayed open late for us, they close at 6pm, at 9pm when we were leaving, the dogs were still outside excersizing and were going to be allowed to stay out for another hour or so before being put to bed. I was relieved to leave them in the care of these people, they will be really well treated there until I can get to them.

The drive home was long, we started getting hungry and needed a break around 11pm but couldn’t find anywhere open to stop that wasn’t a gas station. We ended up at Denny’s in Annapolis, all smelling like the dogs we just transported, not caring about that or what people thought (or smelled) and had a great breakfast!!

Jan took Oona home w/her and has already sent a new pic and update. I got home at about 12:30am, talked to drunken neighbor and made him help me unload a large metal crate. He didn’t stay long, couldn’t handle the smell….ha ha. Got all the crates unloaded, returned the truck, went home, stripped off stinky clothes and went to sleep at about 2am.

 

Thursday, November 8: no pictures today. took 17, 9 and 4 to the vets this morning. 6 wasn’t spayed yesterday because they got in an emergency bloat, but she will be spayed today along w/4 and 9. i’ve requested that 17 get bloodwork sent out as opposed to in house pre-op so she’ll get spayed tomorrow. the plan today is to finally go to office depot and make copies of everyone’s paperwork etc and set up folders for each of these babies.

talked to mike at pa shelter this morning, getting set up for tomorrow’s pick up. had found out that one of the pa dogs has a really bad heart murmur and warned him that she is not a spay clinic candidate since they are keeping her. he was thankful for the heads up and also told me they keeping the lab mix and probably already have a home for her. that’s all this round.

the alabama boys have a home. one of our adopters saw bud and nick and wants both. already approved awesome home, soooooooooooo cool.

 

Wednesday, November 7: Danielle kept track of her time today so people could understand why she isn’t able to answer her messages right away:

woke up at 6am. let the dogs out, fed them. would have made coffee if i had milk, drank a frappuccino instead (SO not the same…..) got on the computer for 20 mins.

let the dogs out……..7:30am

went to vet’s to pick up 2 of yesterday’s 3 surgeries stopping for real coffee on the way.

brought them to kennel, picked up #6 for her spay today and took her to the vets.

picked up my buddy five and back to the boarding kennel, ate a granola bar on the way and made some phone calls related to these guys.

cleaned up 17, 4 and 9…..in that order for the next 3 1/2 hrs.

left the kennel, stopped at brand new spay clinic, they were closed for employee training, stopped at the bank, stopped at the post office and then home.

let the dogs out, 2pm

made a warm lunch, played mindless computer games, did last night’s dishes and talked to the pa shelter about the 18 dogs we’re getting friday.

let the dogs out, 2:45pm

cleaned the barn.

let the dogs out, 4pm

left to pick up my beautiful niece to take her to work……. stopped at truck rental place on the way to make reservation for friday. delivered niece and came home in lovely rush hour traffic.

let the dogs out, 5pm.

fed the dogs.

turned on the computer where i am still sitting now, still wet and stinky from the baths and going to let the dogs out again, 6:45pm.

at least i have decided not to make dinner tonight. PIZZA will be delivered and eaten off paper plates.

will get a shower in soon, write more thank you notes, play mindless computer games and let the dogs out a couple more times before i crash around 11pm and get ready to do more tomorrow. hee hee hee

don’t anyone feel sorry for me, i’d rather have the day i just had than dwell on the fact that this is the anniversary of my father’s death who i still miss more than i can express.

 

Tuesday, November 6: went to the boarding kennel early to pick up 5 and 6 for their surgeries and 3 to be fostered. marlene told me that she thought i had another pyo dog, #12….. so i switched 12 for 6 and took her stinky smelly self instead. turns out she didn’t have a pyo, just an overused uterus. all surgeries went well.

1’s ears are uber bad, i took a sniff on saturday and it took all i had not to throw up. main tech vicky was helping surgery dr (taylor) today, we spoke twice and all she could do was tell me how bad 12 and 1 stank and how they took stinky dog to a whole new level <lol>

regardless, all went well for everyone, i did ok a culture on 1’s ears because so far his have been the worst.

sorry, no pics today, i actually had to work, will be doing more baths tomorrow and will take more pics then.

 

Monday, November 5: this morning i ran some of the errands i should have done while i was napping yesterday, mailed al the thank yous written so far, bought new cards, extra stamps, went to the bank, refilled the gas tank. got to the boarding kennel and realized i’d forgotten my camera so only bathed #1 and no new pictures today. that was ok because i needed to get together w/jeanne today as well as had a dr’s appt this afternoon and it’s one of my days to clean the barn.

dropped 1 off at vets so they could send bloodwork out as i am pretty sure he is another thyroid dog and off to jeanne’s where we made some progress on paperwork. my fault that not more progress was made but we done good anyhow….

while cleaning the barn mike from pa shelter called, he’s scheduled all the spays and neuters for nov 21 because the clinic they use is booked until then, boo hiss. he also said he’s not charging us for the dogs. i could leave them there until 11/21 but i don’t want to, it’s time for them to start their new life so will do what we can to get the spay/neuter process going sooner. mike did offer to transport on spay/neuter day… obviously i have no idea what’s going to happen….. THREE weeks from now:)

great news, the foster home is going to foster three (which means they’ll probably adopt). i’ll bring her to the vets so they can pick her up tomorrow late morning. there will be no pics or baths tomorrow either as i HAVE to work a little at my current 2 day a week job. weds i plan to do gangbuster baths and have more pics……(hope i can keep that promise).

 

Saturday, November 3: The Alabama dogs arrived by transport in Hagerstown this morning at 2:30am. Got to the ‘bus stop’ an hour early. Was going to try to nap but couldn’t get comfortable. Looked in my rearview and saw cars coming and going, wondered what was ging on so deided to drive over. HA….found an all night Walmart with a McD’s inside…wahoo! Since I had time and had forgotten to bring water and a bowl I went shopping, bought some cheeseburgers and coffee too.

Transport got there 15 minutes early. It was the coolest thing ever, long car trailer w/pics and their logo all over it pulled by a tractor (tractor/trailor tractor). A woman was dropping off/sending a dog north and told me this was ‘Last Chance Highway’ and that they’d done a 8 episode mini series about the on Animal Planet. Wish i’d brought my camera to take pics, very impressive. [See their story HERE]

Got to my ‘neighborhood’ around 4am, stopped before home to walk the dogs then crated them, drove home and went to sleep for a couple hrs.

Ellen got here at 8:30, we left in my car to start my day/commute. Dropped off Bud and Nick, went to vets to pick up yesterday’s surgeries and then to make the donuts at the kennel.

 

Friday, November 2: 10 and 13 went into foster care this morning, both are doing well. both were estimated to be seniors, beyond that i don’t have an age. 10’s ears were ok, 13’s totally goopy and he needed the baytril mixture they make at the vets as opposed to the meds i order. brought 19 back to the kennel along w/her new meds, she is a little bitch in a big way, tough little character, she cracks me up. they sent out another t-4 something for her thyroid, results come back monday, until then she is on .04 thyroid meds (donated by vet) when they determine if that is a correct dose for her. she ate fine at the kennel…like nothing happened 🙂

gina (eskie rescue/former foster of schnook) found us a boarding kennel that will take all linda’s dogs for $5 per day per dog/we supply food. it works out to about $4500 per month, owner is knocking off another $500. kennel wants $2000 deposit. i am ok w/that, it’s the kennel gina uses for her rescues. they have been ‘stuck’ w/dogs and not paid so i understand why. jim is contacting a friend from petsmart to see if they’ll donate food.

been in touch w/pa shelter about linda’s dogs, am STILL waiting for manager call back to firm things up. looks like they want to keep a couple of the dogs to place themselves, probably all the young ones and according to a/c officer they’ve already killed some. we may only be getting 18-21 of them which means that if i can find a few more crates i can move them all in one shot…..anyone want to ride w/me? pa shelter is also trying to get out of spaying and neutering them all, gawd i hope that burden doesn’t fall on us…..whatever…..will deal w/it……

i know i’m forgetting something, brain is frazzled today……….

Thursday, November 1: got to kennel at 7:30, picked up 10, 13 and 19, took them to vets. checked in 10 and 13 w/no problems, both determined to be seniors so did pre-op bloodwork. told dr nisson that i thought 19 was a thyroid dog and that we’d sent out bloodwork on monday, he checked, told me i was right and cancelled her surgery until regulated. apparently thyroid dogs have trouble w/anesthesia. left w/19, detoured to get coffee and breakfast for marlene and then back to kennel. unloaded 19 and followed her into the complex. noticed a pyo-like discharge coming out of her, called the vets, they said bring her back and so i did….ergo my loss of time this morning….. 10 and 13 are done and in recovery, 19 is on the table as i type getting her pyo-spay……

Wednesday, October 31: first 3 and worst dogs have been to the vets this morning, next batch probably thursday. all have severe ear infections and yucky skin. fourteen isn’t paralyzed but does have 4 front legs…..you’ll see what i mean when you see pics, vet said she was probably stuck in birth canal for awhile as he’s seen this in horses. nineteen is an aggressive little bitch but uber sweet and cute. two is the worst of the bunch, miserable, looks to be 100 yrs old. vets age guesses are: too is 6-ish, nineteen is 6-ish and fourteen is 4-ish………am sure he’s right about fourteen but i think the other 2 are seniors. did bloodwork on too and fourteen, all had ear smears, too had a skin scraping and meds for all. vet bill so far just under $700. emptied all the crates onto my front yard sat night so i could return the truck. got my niece to help me scrub and store on sunday before hurricane hit.

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