Pretty Girl Goes Home

It was a day of joy and a day of sadness. Three months after Pretty Girl came into our lives, she has left us almost as suddenly. Tuesday she went on to her forever home. The couple that adopted her have a long history with German Shepherds. They recently lost their senior lady of the pack and about a year ago, lost their other older dog. They have an 8-year-old male named Rolf and now, he is joined by Pretty(or name TBD).

We bustled about the house to get a little goodbye care package together for her, sending along some food, treats, a toy and her blanket.
Great pix and more of the story after the jump

Yappy Holidays

I think the picture pretty much says it all. Happy holidays.

Milestones and Messes

It has been an eventful time here at chez Kittelson-McFee. Willow has marked not one, but two major events in her life with us.

First, she dropped below the 75 pound mark. At the last weigh in, she tipped the scales at 74 pounds - a 14 pound drop from July! She still does not like her walks, but we keep at it. She does seem to like her trips to the dog park, so maybe we will try more of those.
Which leads us to her next big event. She made her first trip to "work" with me.

Snow day!

Who doesn't like a snow day when there's no work, no school, no responsibilities?

Heck, a good snow day is fun even when you do have those things going on. Today it started snowing at about 7:30am. The pups and I took off into the great white tundra of our backyard to have a little fun. Final note: by the time I posted this at 9pm, we had an estimated 5 (five!!!!!!) inches. Now, I was told when I moved to Seattle that is neeevvver snowed, but this has happened every year since. I'm not complaining, I like it.

This is just the start of a fun filled day in the snow. More pix after the jump.

Everybody Poops

 It is a fact of dog ownership. Of pet ownership. Of life in general. Everybody poops. Every pet parent will have to deal with a smelly problem at some point.  What to do with all that poo? The most common way to get rid of the nasty stuff is to pick it up in a plastic bag and throw it in the garbage, essentially ensuring that  an incredibly biodegradable product lasts thousands of years in our landfills. And with the "average" dog dropping more than 160 pounds per year*, that's not such a great idea, but what else can you do?  

*Based on a water pollution study from North Carolina.

Two Years

Two years ago today, I lost one of the best friends I have ever had.

Dharma was diagnosed with Leukemia on a Friday. The vet said she had possibly the worst white cell count she had ever seen. The only hope of saving her was a drastic treatment that if successful, would wipe out the overpopulating white cells. However, the count was so high that if it was completely successful, the sudden loss of those cells would kill her. What a choice. At first I held onto hope that we could save her. That somehow, it would work just enough and buy me a little more time with my sweet girl. Just four months earlier she had been through a bout of cancer and come out a stronger, healthier, happier dog. I knew, just knew that she could beat this too. But as she hobbled into the vet's office so we could talk about what steps we could take, she looked up at me with those big trusting brown eyes, asking, are you going to help me? Are you, the one I've trusted all my life to make things okay, going to make the hurt go away? I was. And while we went to the vet to speak about treatment, the conversation steered to final options. We spent the weekend together, with her laying on her pink blanket, her precious and prized tennis ball ignored. I talked to her. I petted her fur. I stroked her too-big ears that felt just like velvet. Then the weekend was over and we were back at the clinic. She lay on the floor with her head on my lap. I told her to go run on the beach like she did in Santa Barbara, barking at the waves as they crashed to shore. Run on the trails and chase the prairie dogs like we did in Griffith Park. Run through the wide, grassy fields like she did at our rugby practices in Indiana. Go, I said. And, just as she did all of her life, she trusted me, and without hesitation followed my command. She went.

1996-2008

Still here

So she is still here.

Pretty Girl came to us as an underweight scared little thing. She has overcome her timidity. She is a kissing machine! She loves nothing more than running around the house giving big slappy licks to everyone. I don't think anyone appreciates it. While she tries to ingratiate herself into the pack, she has one ally. Loki is becoming her play pal as the videos show. Please excuse the mess, it was early and I hadn't had time to clean up.

Success and Failure

So this post is a bit late coming.
The adoptathon saw some real success. we had several people who  had already been approved as adopters come down to meet a few of the dogs. At least two dogs went on to their forever homes, including our overnight guest Azar. Yeah!
Another went to a "permanent foster." That is someone who is willing to take the dog in and foster it, but if they get along well, they will become the forever home. Unfortuantely, there was one big problem with the adoptathon.No one wanted Pretty Girl. A few people were interested, but may have just been kicking the dogs. I mean, kicking the tires, as they say in the used car trade.

  

After the jump you will find pix of the big day and some of the available pups.

Who could resist a face like this?

Let's hope no one.

This is Pretty Girl… at least that is what I’ve been calling her since I picked her up at Thurston County Animal Services this afternoon. She is one of two dogs that I will be taking to the Kent Station adoptathon tomorrow. The other is a crazy eight month old male- also rescued from/by TCAS.
Much thanks to Connie there for all her help making sure these guys got sprung to make it to the event. Also a big thanks to Joyce- the primary contact down that way who made all the arrangements for getting them out.
So I took Snuffy and we made the roadtrip down to Olympia to get them. Then, we went immediately to Amore Petcare in Shoreline to bathe them for the big day. Thanks to Stephanie, the owner there for cutting us a break on the cost of a self-wash so these two would be huggable fresh for their public debut. She even suggested a special shampoo for Pretty Girl’s troubled skin and coat.
Then, the dynamic duo, who actually did not really get to socialize during their three weeks in the shelter, met The Pack.

Just for fun

Ok, this has nothing to do with our dogs.. but watch it anyway and I dare you not to smile.

Did you spot the goat?

Ouch!

This is one miserable puppy.

This week, we noticed one of Daisy's teeth had broken off. Next to her lower right canine was a bright white shard sticking out of her pink gumline. We had no idea where she broke it or what she did, but it looked painful.
So off she goes to Doctor Bob at the Mountlake Terrace Affordable Animal Clinic. Doctor Bob said it had to come out. So Wednesday morning Heather dropped her off. Eight hours later, we picked up. What a sight. She hobbled out, still groggy from the drugs.

Doc said it was one of the longest teeth he had seen. That meant they really had to get in there and work to get it out.

Daiser spent the night being an unhappy doggie. She flopped on the floor and didn't even want to eat.

Luckily, the drugs wore off by Friday morning. By Friday night, when Loki got home from Barking Lounge, she was ready to rumble.

Flashback:Thor... this is a long one

My dog, Dharma, died in October of 2008.

I was heart-broken. I took her home the day she turned six weeks old, a hot humid Indiana summer day back in 1996. While there are now a number of dogs in this house, and I had dogs growing up, Dharma was my dog in a way no other ever was or will be. She traveled across the country with me. She was there with me at time when I was finishing college, when I was alone in L.A., and when I was really becoming the person I am today. She was my companion, my confidant, my friend. Losing her left a huge hole in my life, one I was really not expecting. I didn’t imagine I could fill it, and for the record haven’t, but decided to ease the loss of my precious pup I would begin volunteering for the local German Shepherd Rescue. I was not ready for a foster, so I was transporting dogs from shelters to foster homes to vets. Unfortunately, there were a lot of dogs that needed to be moved around as many were beginning to show up at shelters as the economy began its tumble. One night I was asked to move three dogs. One went from a shelter to a fantastic kennel that takes in some of the dogs, one went up to a foster home, the final dog was going from a foster home that could no longer keep him back to the Rescue’s main organizer, Cara. While dropping off the first dog at Sno-Line Kennels, the owner took a call about Thor. He was 13 years old, epileptic and suffering the first stages of spinal myelopathy. His life-long owner had died. She asked, a bit bluntly, why they didn’t just put him down. I have to admit, to my shame, that at the time I agreed. But they didn’t put him down, he went into the rescue’s foster system.

Why we are terrible foster parents

I got an email this week that I was not prepared for. Here’s the troubling line…


“Also, we met with an adopter today and Marianne was wondering if Kiyana would be a fit for them.”

<<Willow's petfinder pic

Kiyanna, known in this house as Willow, is our foster. You can go back and read more about her in previous posts, but let it suffice to say that when we took her in, we really didn’t expect someone else to want her. That’s a bit mean, I know, but how many people are interested in a 3-legged, overweight, geriatric dog? I mean, other than us. Well apparently someone else thought they might be a good fit for this tragic case. So at the receipt of this message, there was some serious conversation taking place in Chateau Kittelson-McFee. We took her in as a foster, temporary, and planned only to rehabilitate her and get her ready to be a part of someone’s family. But let’s be honest, we really didn’t think she stood a chance of being adopted. We went back and forth. Letting someone else take her would open a space in our house for another dog that desperately needed a place to stay. But in the past two months, she had made such great progress, not only on her weight, but coming out of her shell and beginning to interact with the other dogs and with Heather and myself.

So, what to do?

Read more after the jump.

Saturday is FUN DAY... or a day in the park.

Saturday was designated fun day for the household. This week we decided to take a family outing to one of Seattle’s many off-leash areas, Northacres Park.

This was the first time we had taken Willow to a dog park. We hoped she would like it, but have been afraid that her limited mobility might make it difficult for her. Wow, were we wrong. She got there and was ready to go.


We used a towel as a sling to help her get a round. We decided the trails would be a problem with the wheelchair. She kept right up with the rest of the pack, more or less. She seemed like she was having a lot of fun, but was tired out by the time we headed home.

Loki nominated himself the official park greeter and had to go hassle all the other dogs that were there that early on a Saturday morning. And of course, he consistently hassled Daisy. Snuffer also made his presence known as you can see in the video.

Mmmm, tail-wagging good!

As a pet parent, one of the most important decisions we make is what we feed our little guys. The options are really unlimited. We can choose from the high-end organic specialty canned varieties featuring exotic meats like kangaroo and venison to the jumbo bag of Ol’ Roy kibble at Wal-Mart. Each of these bags make claims that it is the healthiest or tastiest or most balanced for your dog. But here’s a warning, advertisers are liars and some of the best liars are trying to sell you pet food. It’s no surprise. The pet food industry tops 10 billion dollars every year. $10 billion! That’s enough kibble to choke Cerberus on his hungriest of days. But really, what are you buying? Whether you shell out for the top of the line or scour the bargain basement, there is a lot you should know about dog food.

Pay close attention to the name. There are a lot of tricky ways manufacturers try to get around FDA mandated guidelines. A product that says “(meat) for dogs” has to meet the 95% rule. Example, “Beef for Dogs” has to be 95 percent beef. Much more common is the “dinner” variety. Beef Dinner for Dogs would have to have just 25% of the meat product in the food.

Look out for “with”. That means there is just 3 percent of that in the bag. Example, Beef formula with cheese would have just 3 percent cheese. And that word formula means NOTHING. There are no rules about how much of that product needs to be in there other than a “detectable amount” according to government regulations.

So what to do? Here at our house we make our own. I’ll walk you through our formula after the jump.

I'm a happy dog!

Ever wonder what a really happy dog looks like? Wonder no more, just click the video fo Loki on an adventure in Boise.

On the move!

So sometimes, the exercise is easy. Willow is ready to go and she plods right along as we go on the walks.

Sometimes, she isn't as interested. Check out this video as she first tries to convince me that she is coming along, then makes a mad dash back for the house.

Current weight 80 lbs. (yes, she's dropped almost 8 pounds in her month here.)
Distance: 3/4 block

Give 'til it hurts (a little)

As pet owners we hate to think about any scenario that could put our little buddies in need of emergency medical care, but it happens all too often. From getting hit by a car to life-saving surgeries, there are countless ways that a dog could find himself in need of a blood transfusion.


Until recently, many vets simply either used one of their own dogs as a donor when blood was needed or called upon one of the handful of national blood centers such as Hemopet and The Animal Blood Bank in California or The Veterinarian’s Blood Bank in Indiana. Now, there is a growing field of canine blood banks.

The requirements to become a donor are simple. A dog must be between 1 and 6, healthy, with a good temperament and able to lie still for about 10 minutes.

Loki, my 2-year-old Shepherd, recently became a donor at the ACCES Emergency Clinic in Seattle.

The process starts with a preliminary visit to draw a sample to test for any blood-borne diseases or problems and to make sure a dog is of the correct blood type. It used to be “common knowledge” that all dogs had the same type blood. But advances in veterinary medicine have proved that false. There is a universal, however there are subsets to that which can cause reactions in some dogs. In addition to a quick check-up to make sure everything looks good, the first visit is also a bit of a trial run for the real thing by making sure the dog can lie still long enough to donate. This was the critieria that worried me with Loki. He is a bundle of energy and being still while in a new place with new smells and new people could present a real challenge. He did a fantastic job, letting everyone carry out their roles, provided they offered him plenty of pets as they went through the steps.

A couple weeks later, we went back for the full-fledged donation. He got another once-over by the vet to make sure he was still a healthy dog and the techs got started. Allyson, the amazingly dedicated manager of ACCES, shaved his neck a bit where the needle would go in to prevent anything that might be on/in his hair from infecting the wound when he was done.

Loki was a champ. He lay still and let everyone do their job, not even flinching when the needle pricked him. While Allyson took 450 ml of blood, everyone else joined in keeping the pup calm. Lots of belly rubs. Lots of head stroking. Lots of petting. The blood will undergo another screening process to make sure there are no previously undetected pathogens in it. If everything is okay, next time, his plasma will be further divided so it can be saved in smaller portions and used in more ways.

Once the hard part was done, Loki got lots of treats, his “Blood Donor” bandana, and what I think was his favorite part, a toy. He spent the next three days doing his best to destroy the toy and drive me crazy with its weird little noise.

In the commercial blood banks, the dogs donate every four to six weeks. Volunteer donors can give every three months. So in October Loki will be back on the table. While he may not know how much his ten minutes does to help other dogs, he does know that it gets him some big treats, lots of love, and a toy to take home. And knowing we are helping others, is the reward I get.

A bump and a ride

So bad news. While giving Willow a much –needed bath, I felt a bump at the base of her tail. I thought at first it was a mat, but as I felt around, it ruptured. (Yuck, I know, I was there). So, after only a week in the house, Willow was on her way to the vet. I felt a little bad about this. She has a fascination with cars and on her nightly walks always wants to go to them. I am afraid she may think that sooner or later, one of them will take her back home. So her first car ride other than the one that brought her to our home, takes her to the doctor who pokes and prods her.


Dr. Bob did a quick once over and determined the lumps were tumors and needed to be removed. Poor girl also had some infection under her gumline from who knows how long without proper dental care.

Two days later I dropped her off at eight in the morning. Her second car ride took her to the same place and I don’t think she was happy about that. She tried to stiffen her front legs so I couldn’t make her walk in. She may be overweight, but little did she know I am strong enough to swoop her up and in we went.

Eight hours later I got her back. Her tail and butt are shaved and she has a line of stitches across the top of her tail, but seems to be okay. While she was under, they also cleaned her teeth and they look great, one would almost mistake her for a puppy. Well, not really, but they do look much better and the clean whiteness does make her look like she is in better shape.

Here is the even better news. In the three weeks she has been at the house, it appears she has lost five pounds! We have been giving her a high-protein raw diet that she seems to love and getting her to exercise as much as she will allow. She also seems to enjoy it. With the other dogs running and bouncing around her, I think she wants to be part of the pack or at least be mobile enough to avoid getting stepped on or left behind when they run off to the backyard.

Weight: 83 pounds

Walking distance: ¾ block each way

Introducing Willow

Call me a sucker for a sob story. I first spotted Willow on the Washington German Shepherd Rescue website. Her name was then Kiyanna and she had that tell-tale heart under her name. You know the one. The little green heart that means a special needs dog, or as we like to call them just “special” dogs.

I am told her owners were an elderly couple, both of whom passed away within a short time. The next of kin dropped her off at a shelter. She should be a small German Shepherd, maybe 55 pounds, but she weighs in at nearly ninety! She is also missing a back leg and the remaining one is not strong enough to lift her weight, so she can’t even stand up. The woman at the rescue says when they first got her from the shelter (a small blessing since most places would have simply killed her due to the medical issues) she was unable to even move enough to relieve herself.

Now, thanks to a generous donor, she has a wheelchair to help her exercise. We take her on morning and evening walks. Each day we go just a bit farther down the block and back. She also gets “forced” to go outside a couple times a day for short patrols around the yard’s perimeter.

She also has us. Her first foster, right out of doggie-prison, renamed her Alexis, but said she didn’t get much response with it. We are going with Willow. She is making herself right at home in our little pack. Even now, as I write, she is sound asleep at my feet. When I move around the house, she will pop up into her sitting position and follow me around, using her one back leg as a pogo. In the week we’ve had her, I think she’s seen some improvement in her strength- actually Heather points it out and I agree.

So, as she continues on her road to recovery and independence, we will keep all you readers posted. Wish us luck.

Current weight 87.5 lbs.

Walking distance ½ block (each way)