torand.org

We picked up our new puppy Friday. The breeder, Five Gems Keeshonden, was located up in Grantsville Maryland. My boss let me off early so I went up with my wife and daughter to pick up Dakota. The breeders live on a dairy farm and they also breed Norwegian Elkhounds. When we got there, the yard was full of dogs, both adults and puppies. Dakota was freshly bathed when we got there. From talking to Marla, another family was traveling from New York to pick up their puppy this weekend as well.Dakota is settling in fine in her crate. It is taking less time than I expected for her to acclimate to her crate. The first night she whined for a while then fell asleep. Sometimes when she was whining, Bear would growl at her as if to day Be Quiet!, kinda funny actually. Bear is still very skittish around the puppy, we expect the will change soon. Well come back, I expect more pictures of the new puppy…

I took the dog to his vet for a follow up checkup.  The vet confirmed from the xrays that the stones were back in his bladder and he would have to have surgery to have them removed. The vet believes that it is struvite stones.  The surgery will cost approximately $1300.  This is the second time that we’ve had this procedure performed.  The last time was in 2004.  I wonder if there is a way to have the stones dissolved to prevent him from going under again.  I’ve read several articles about remedies to have the stones dissolved so they can be passed but not sure if they work.  My next step is to schedule the surgery.

We got up Friday and had breakfast. My mom had made us some Rellenos to cook before heading home. We cooked them for lunch and headed home soon thereafter. Our travel home was long, but it always seems to be when you head home. I was looking forward to seeing my dog. We made it home in about 10 hours.

When we got home, I immediately, let the dog outside. He seemed to be going for a while. I kept calling him, but he wouldn’t come. When we finally got him inside, I notice he was acting somewhat different. He kept squatting and leaking some brownish fluid. He seemed to continue to do this, so I took him outside. He seemed like he was trying to go but nothing would come out. I immediately called the vet’s office and took him to a nearby hospital. The took some x-rays and it was just as we suspected. He had stones in his urethra and in his bladder. The vet said that he was partially obstructed and if it wasn’t taken care of he could die. The options he presented was we could have the stones flushed back into his system, and then go in and perform surgery to remove the stones. He had a total of 6 stones. Both procedures were very costly. One would cost $760 and the other $1200. We opted to have the stones flushed back to alleviate the pain so that he could resume normal operation and schedule an appointment with our regular vet. The vet couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t want to have the surgery done since he had to put him to sleep. I felt that the dog was in enough stress during the week during our absence. The flushing of the stones went well and he was done in about 1 hour. It was about 3AM when he was released. It was funny because when he came out of surgery, he was very tired and could bare stand up. I picked him up and took him to the car and when we got home I carried him upstairs into our room and laid him next to my bed and went to sleep.

I was at Target the other day and was noticing how much dog accessories have grown. I think there was three rows of dog stuff. Well for the dog lover, it’s like dog heaven. We notice all the cute clothing outfits that are available for dogs. We wanted to buy one for Bear but couldn’t find a manly one. We ended up buying this pink shirt that had Angel written on the back. When we got home, we immediately had Bear wear it. He looked so funny in it. With all his hair, he looked like a football player with all the shoulder pads. We laughed so hard. When I get the pictures loaded, I’ll share them.

My dog Bear is having… well issues with his plumbing. The poor dog started peeing on the carpet Saturday, for no good reason. We would take him out and he would spend a considerable amount of time peeing. Except nothing was coming out, but we didn’t figure that out till Monday morning. We took him to the vet and found that he has 9 bladder stones. The doctor was concerned and told my wife, and I quote “If I can’t push the stones back (to the kidney) I will have to make it so he can pee through his butt”

Ok.. so that might not be the exact quote… but the vet did say something to that effect, and you gotta admit, it is funny.