Saturday, January 30, 2016

I scared a Great Dane!

So here's what he looked like... huge!
I am feeling so proud of myself. Usually I pick on little dogs that bug me at the dog park but yesterday, I encountered a HUGE young Great Dane. This dog had absolutely no sense of personal space and kept bugging me and sniffing me and pawing at me. I turned around and snapped at him. I growled and scared him away.

So then I was trotting around the path minding my own business and here he comes again. Romping around me and bugging me. THAT WAS IT! I snarled, snapped and CHASED HIM. Then for good measure I CHASED HIM AGAIN! I scared him off that time. You should have seen me scaring that huge dog!

My owner was all apologetic with the dog's owners and they surprised me. They said that it was good for their dog to learn that he couldn't do that. He needed to learn to respect personal space or suffer the consequences.

So that was my brave day at the dog park!

Love, Cinnamon

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Wordless Wednesday: Pooped Out!

This is what Francesca looks like after Day Care!

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Dog Park Races, Here we come! (video)

Sometimes I appreciate the dog park even more after being holed up in the house during the rainy season. Well, today, I looked outside and saw a bit of blue sky and sunshine. It was a great day for the dog park!

So our owner opened the back of the car and we jumped in... Francesca in her crate and me in the back. Dog park express! Off we went.

When we got there, since it was Sunday and not everyone goes to church, the parking lot was pretty full. As soon as we got out of the car, about five dogs met us at the gate, barking and making annoying aggressive sounds. It's like that at the gate. I hate it! Well, except when I'm the one on the other side annoying the newly arrived dogs!

So we trotted and ran. All of a sudden Francesca spied a friend... it was Suzy! She was in a pack of about four dogs. She high tailed it (easy for her as she has the longest tail in the world) over and started to annoy everyone. Finally Susy took off running. Francesca was in hot pursuit. Now the object of the chase is not to win, but to run like the wind after the first dog. Francesca did a great job, forgetting that she had pneumonia not so long ago!

Here's a video of the chase!




I ran a little bit but stayed out of their way.

Love, Cinnamon

Thursday, January 14, 2016

I am NOT Stupid!

Hi. It's me, Francesca. I'm feeling much better now but still have to take antibiotics. I have enough energy to go to the dog park and have fun. We went yesterday and we went today. Today was WILD!

We drove to the dog park at Washougal. I had never been there before so I got really excited. I didn't know what to do first... visit the dogs or find a squirrel tree. Of course, being a mighty hunter, I started with the latter.

At the Washougal dog park there is one huge lone tree. I figured squirrels must be in that tree so I ran like the wind (Cinnamon taught me that saying) over to check it out. As I ran, I imagined what the squirrels would be like. They would be big, furry and grey. And they would be jumping from branch to branch. I visualized one of them falling. I visualized me chasing that squirrel and...

Francesca the mighty hunter.
So by the time I reached the tree, I had worked myself up into a frenzy. I ran all around the tree barking. I looked up into the branches expecting at least 10 squirrels to be frolicking. Then I tried to climb the tree to get a better look.

I barked and jumped and nothing happened. No squirrels! So then I climbed up on a nearby bench figuring I'd be a couple feet closer to seeing a squirrel.... nothing.

At that point I saw some dogs looking at a hole by some berry bushes. So I went over to investigate. I was sure there was something really good in that hole. They gave up but I decided to investigate. I had to go through some berry brambles to get to the hole. My owner said, "Don't do that, Francesca... that's a stupid thing to do!" I listened to her and backed out of the thorny bushes.

All of a sudden I heard a man say, in his booming voice. "If Francesca thinks there are squirrels in that tree she must be STUPID!" Me, stupid? Well, he doesn't know me. I'm very smart. Smarter than Cinnamon, in some ways. I'm manipulative too.

So I decided to go over to the squirrel tree and start barking again to show him how smart of a hunter I was. After that I ran over to a pile of XXXX and rolled in it. I thought I was so smart!

Once we got home, I was invited to take a bath. Now I don't like baths, but after rolling around having such a great time I had earned the bath. I kinda forgot about that when I was rolling around.
I'm not STUPID, but I AM clean! What a day!

I am not sure I want to go back to that dog park. I was called stupid and then earned myself a bath... all in one day.

Love, Smart Francesca

Friday, January 8, 2016

Kennel Cough and Pneumonia: A rough week

I haven't written much lately. It's because our household has been focused on Kennel Cough and Pneumonia. And Francesca has gotten all the attention.

One day, just before New Year's Eve, Francesca started coughing. She'd cough and gag. She just couldn't stop coughing so our owner took her to the vet. She didn't think that they could do anything as Kennel Cough has to run its course.

But once the vet saw Francesca he had an idea. He prescribed a cough suppressant that also would dry up secretions and help her with the coughing problem. We wondered if it was a good idea to suppress a productive cough but the vet explained that the coughing was irritating her wind pipe and unless it could be stopped, it would keep on getting worse.

When she got home she took the medicine and, surprise of surprises, it worked! Francesca was feeling better and was back to normal. Each time the medicine started to wear off, she started coughing again. The medicine she took was Hydrocodone-Homatropine, a narcotic. It didn't really make her sleepy. The downside of this medicine is that it causes constipation.

We made sure she stayed home and didn't come in contact with other dogs because Kennel Cough is very contagious. She is pretty sure she caught it at her day care because they said several other dogs had recently been sent home after they started coughing. Don't think for a moment that I wasn't concerned about my own health. I started worrying about catching it. Every morning I woke up and wondered if that would be the day I would start coughing. But so far, I'm OK. So far, I'm not coughing.

After a few days, things got really SCARY! One night, Francesca woke up and wanted to sleep on our owner's bed. Because she was sick and because she is spoiled, she was allowed to go in there around 1 a.m. In an hour or so, our owner noticed she was snoring. While that can be cute, it wasn't something Francesca usually did. At 3 a.m. Francesca woke up all congested, coughing and sneezing. She was having trouble breathing. Her breathing was fast and shallow and she gagged and mucousy stuff came up. Don't watch this video if you can't handle seeing a sick dog. SHE WAS VERY SICK!


Our owner got up with her. Francesca was getting really tired but couldn't curl up and sleep. She could lie down on all fours and held her head up to breathe. I was getting really scared and wondered what could be done since it was one of those days when the streets were all iced up.

Once dawn came, our owner called the vet and found out that he couldn't even get into the office until afternoon because of the ice. But he said give Francesca the medicine for coughing and keep her comfortable. She wasn't looking a bit comfortable but we did what we could. She wouldn't eat or drink. That wasn't like her at all. I kind of stayed out of the way. When I had my breakfast she didn't even get up to see if there was food for her.

Early afternoon the vet's office called and Francesca had an appointment. She was getting weak and so our owner had to lift her into the front seat of the car for the drive.
Here's sick Francesca in the front seat
on the way to the Vet.
Once she was inside the vet's office they looked at her and said she looked like she felt miserable. But they had a plan. Francesca was given a blanket to lay on while they got everything ready. First she needed an x-ray and a physical exam. The xray showed she had pneumonia. The exam showed that she was dehydrated. So the plan was put in place to give her IV hydration and breathing treatments which had antibiotic medicine in the solution. Our owner was sent away to buy some expensive antibiotics at a human pharmacy while Francesca got these treatments. (She also said they clipped her nails since she was so lethargic, she didn't care!).
Here's Francesca at the Vet's office lying on the blanket.
Here's Francesca in the hospital.
About three hours later, it was time to pick her up at the hospital. Francesca was feeling a little bit better and was able to hop into the car under her own steam. Once she got home, she had a small meal and she slept and slept.
Francesca spent a lot of time in bed.
The next day she was feeling a lot better. She was hungry! I was happy to see that. She scarfed down a big breakfast and got her antibiotic wrapped in bread and peanut butter. Because I was whining about being neglected, I got some bread and peanut butter too!

Francesca had to go back to the vet for two more appointments for breathing treatments. That was mainly because her oral antibiotics wouldn't really kick in for three days. She started feeling almost normal. She chased a squirrel with me and wagged her tail. She did take lots of naps, though and loved falling asleep with her head on our owner's lap. She was becoming a BIG, SPOILED BABY!
Francesca insists on sleeping with her head on our owner's lap.
So that brings us up today. She has quit coughing and so doesn't have to take the cough suppressant. She has to take the oral antibiotic for three weeks. And, at the two week point, she has to go back to the vet and get another x-ray to make sure her lungs are clear. But she thinks she's just fine.

It's been 10 days now since she came down with Kennel Cough. They say I can come down with it still. Sometimes it takes two weeks. SO I AM HOPING I DON'T GET IT! I am counting the days. I am praying every night. Please, St. Francis, don't let me get Kennel Cough!
Here I am praying to St. Francis
I wrote all of this because every dog with Kennel Cough has a different experience and different treatment. Here is what Fidose of Reality Blog had to say about their dog's experience. After you read that you'll probably wonder if Francesca and I had the Bordatella vaccine. Yes, we did. We had the oral vaccine. But we do know it doesn't completely prevent Kennel Cough.

Love, Cinnamon

Sunday, January 3, 2016

What I got for Christmas

Hi everyone! It's a snowy day here and so I am looking for things to do inside. I didn't get a chance to tell you how much I am enjoying my Christmas moose. I had one last year just like it but Francesca and I got a bit rough with it and, well, you know....

So I'm happy to have an intact, squeaky moose to play with today.
Here I am telling Francesca to back off and leave my toy alone!