Hank - 02Oct2019

Monday was the first day I was at work and I'm calling it a great success. I let everyone out upon getting up, made everyone breakfast, and then let everyone out again before I left for work (about a 2 hour time frame in the morning). I crated Hank, and everyone else was lounging around the living room. Jason works from home and so he went off to the den where his desk is. I constantly checked in on Hank through the Nest camera and was pleased when he chilled out and laid down.

Jason does come and go through the house during the day and, let me skip to Tuesday real fast, I saved a few clips from the Nest cam, showing how Hank did notice him come into the kitchen, but never said a thing and eventually just sat back down and watched. Hank is in the black crate under the tv.

I come home at noon for lunch, change clothes (so my work clothes don't get smothered in dog hair) and then I've gone outside with the pooches and played. It's been hot here the past few days (summer still lingers) and so in case they were out a lot while I was at work, I filled up a water bowl, the kiddie swimming pool (that Lola and Ringo love) and a 5 gallon bucket. Hank prefers the bucket:

Let's skip back to breakfast time - Tuesday morning, Hank is already getting into the routine:

Here are a few pics of how and where everyone eats, and Hank waiting to be released from breakfast:

Millie is in the crate on the other side of Hank. I monitor the entire breakfast process to make sure no one steals (they all will and then there are some fusses).

Right after breakfast Tuesday morning, I missed Hanks cue that he needed out, and I found myself cleaning up a pile of steaming poo (not surprised by the liquidness at this point - family change and diet change-and btw, he did go by the back door and not in some random place) but did manage to realize I had my fecal sample for him now! After work Tuesday, I loaded Hank in the truck and we headed to the vet. Stool sample did show a few hookworm eggs and so we got treatment for it (Strongid) and we currently have an appt next Wednesday for an exam and heartworm test. I'm going to try and contact the clinic that has treated him in the past (the actual place here in town closed down) since he has a rabies tag and I'd love to know what kind of shots he's gotten already. Otherwise we'll plan on just getting him a big boy round of regular annual vaccines. And Hank weighed in at 61 pounds - I'm shooting for 68-ish on him and we'll see how he looks at that weight. Feeding him raw at 3% of target weight means I'm feeding him about 1 pound of chicken/beef heart/pork loin/some liver, twice a day. 

On the ride home, I realized we were getting back later than I'd planned and I had to pull off on the side of the road for a scheduled chat with my course instructor for school. I had Hank attached to a seat belt in the second row of the truck on his collar (usually like to use a harness but don't have one for him right now). Hank is fine in the car while you're moving, but he got a little restless with us pulled off on the side of the road (note for the future if you leave him in the vehicle while you go in to a store?). I caught him doing "something" out of the corner of my eye (licking something on the floor?), but then he stopped. We got back on the road. And while I was going 60mph, all of a sudden, Hank jumped up in the front passenger seat. I knew his seatbelt attachment wouldn't allow this and it took me a second to comprehend what he'd done:

The end in the seatbelt is still in the truck, here is where he chewed through that thing in 15 seconds. Damn. And note for later! He is good in the front seat though, I'd just prefer him 1) not on the leather and 2) buckled in there. The front seat airbag turns off automatically based on the weight up there (too small for an adult, it turns off).

Closing note for now - I've never been around labs. So my observations might be a big duh for those that have. Hank does not have an agenda. My Sadie (the Diva Weim), does. An example:

Sadie wants that bone that Hank has. Hank is just happy to have the bone and chew on it. If Sadie were to try and just take it from him, Hank might get into it with her. Sadie will wait. Or play "look! there's Elvis!" fakeout to trick him. Or wait for Hank to be distracted in some other way. And then she'll pounce on the bone. And be a bitch about it until I take it away. Hank will move on past the loss and turn to whatever is next to him and start playing with that (or it). Hank wants attention from his humans, interaction with the pups around him cuz they're there (he fit in fast with a pack after being an only dog his whole life). He'll jump right in the middle of a pile of pups or humans and not even say excuse me (although he does "speak" dog fairly well and responds appropriately to a snarl or bark). Exercise is fantastic for him (leash work needed). He LOVES to play fetch in the yard. Pretty happy go lucky. I think he'd do best with another/other dogs that do NOT have an agenda. Not saying a fight can't break out, but Sadie and Ringo here are the biggest agenda holders (Ringos is more Heeler/bossy). 

Hank - almost a Weim 27Sept2019

I walk to work. And everyday for over the past 2 years, I've seen this chocolate lab on my way. Just a puppy when the family got him, he was quickly trained on an underground fence to stay in the yard. He knew his boundaries and there was no limit to the pleasure he would take in staying hidden until I was walking right past his house, and then come tearing out, barking to beat hell, and promptly sniggering after he got the reaction he wanted out of me (to jump suddenly, scream like a girl, and then look frantically around to see if anyone saw me get scared by this pup).

Anyways, here we are today. This pups family is getting divorced and dad has to go on the road at a moments notice and mom couldn't take any pets to her new apartment. Kids are about 8-10ish and moved with mom into the apartment. They said they were taking the pup to the shelter. I said I could take him home. Last Friday night, I picked Hank up in my truck, along with his crate, a bed, and his food bowl. It was already dark and I had 5 of my own dogs in the house waiting on me. I took Hank to the fenced backyard and let him sniff around a bit (left his leash on in case I needed to grab him). I let each of my dogs out, one at a time, to meet Hank. Sadie was a little snippy and a bit of a diva about intros, Millie was okay, Ringo was overly aggressive and I had to pull them apart (but they let me), Buddy was alert but okay, Lola got him riled up just by coming out and being all razorback looking. Everyone did fairly well, given they didn't have much light so that put everyone on a little edge. Everyone did fairly well, given they didn't have much light so that put all on a little edge. This was around 8pm.

Here we are at about 9:30pm the same night.

Hank's dad said he was crated at night (instead of saying "crate" they said "load up") - he went in his crate without issue that night, little bit of moving around, but otherwise, he went right to sleep. Buddy woke me up about 5am Saturday morning to go out, and everyone but Sadie went out then and did their business. I put him back in his crate when we came back in and he went back to sleep.

Saturday morning I fed everyone (Hank in his crate, Millie in her crate, everyone else disbursed in the dining room). I needed to work on a paper for school but it was obvious that Hank was anxious and not gonna rest like everyone else does after breakfast. I moved my computer and work to the back porch, hooked Hank up with a multi-noise, vibration, shock collar (I didn't want to just throw him in the backyard with all of the other dogs and the chickens (in their coop) and Bridget (cat) on the back porch - he needed to be watched with everything). I let all of the dogs out and then proceeded to spend the next 5 hours doing my paper and watching the dogs. He really didn't do much different than I'd watched him do at his own house during the day when humans weren't around. I got my paper finished and submitted. I zapped him with about half full power of the vibration when he started sniffing around the chicken coop and looking too interested. Same thing when he'd go on point with Bridget (that might take some time if it can even work).

My boyfriend and I needed to go to the grocery store that afternoon and so we just put him in his crate, Millie gets crated when we leave, and everyone else gets left out. I watched him on video and he laid down after a bit so he doesn't appear to mind the crate that much (even though he does have tons of energy to expend). Came back and he was cool but def willing to come out. Saturday night was about the same, fed, played a little, went to bed. 

Sunday morning we got up, fed the pups (which Hank was on Old Roy kibble, and I'm switching him pretty fast to Earthborn Coastal Catch kibble and Raw - so far he's had pork loin, beef heart, and chicken), then got ready to go for a run. We chose to take Lola and Hank with us. I have a hands free leash hookup so I can have 2 dogs with me. I have an extra prong collar that I fit on him (everyone wears one now when we walk/run). He still pulled pretty good for having that collar on him but I was able to manage him (he pulled more than Buddy, my male adult Weim about 75 pounds) has ever been able to on this collar). Leash walking needs work but is doable. I had him hooked to me for the first few miles and Jason ran with Lola (she's great to go running with - she just goes forward at a steady pace, no peeing on stuff, no sniffing stuff - it's a walk/run!). Last mile I took both Lola and Hank. He did fairly well - started actually slowing down a little about a mile and a half in and was more running beside me/not pulling as much the last mile.  He could probably do that most days.

We spent the rest of the day at home, relaxing, playing in the backyard. I grabbed a few pics in the house:

 Left to right: Sadie, Millie, Hank, Buddy, and Ringo in the back.

 Skinny boy, trying to plump him up a little. Gonna get a fecal and heartworm test done asap to see if we're fighting any worms and to get him on heartworm preventive.

Hank giving Lola a kiss.

Hank likes to play fetch and he can play by himself:

Millie was already teaching him the fun of playing "hand off" with their fave rubber Chuck It balls (that I have on Subscribe and Save with Amazon b/c we're constantly losing them).

Patiently waiting for breakfast this morning:

And if anyone is wondering, that clear mat is a ScatMat (again, Amazon). It's electrified on one side with 3 settings. It keeps everyone out of the kitchen that doesn't wear shoes. It's usually on high and will make you jump if you touched it. Hank figured out what it was in the first 5 minutes he was in the house and has pretty much respected it since. I hope he doesn't talk too much to Sadie, who has recently figured out the fact it's only electrified on one side and if she flips it over, she can walk past it!

In between Houston and Jade there was Sadie, Wyatt, and Shadow

I didn't just take almost 2 years off from fostering - had a bit of a midlife crisis, combined with a divorce and moving. My ex still supports/helps with the fostering and actually just adopted my foster from earlier this year, Wyatt. If you've seen my other posts, you've seen pics of Ringo and Lola before - we share custody of them so they get to still spend time out in the country plenty but also get time running in a fenced backyard with plenty of leash walks through town (with me). They're just totally awesome pups.

After Houston was adopted, I finished tax season in 2017, then bought a new house and moved. In the midst of this, I was offered a new job and started that May 1, 2017 (which just happened to be 2 blocks from the new house I bought - can you believe I walk to work and get to come home every day for lunch and let my pups out?????). Got the plans rolling for getting a fence installed in my new place and was able to take another foster in, Sadie. She has quite the story and is quite a handful but if she didn't come just when I needed her (sharing dogs is hard enough, I couldn't even imagine sharing custody of 2 legged kids).

Sadie at just over a year old.

Okay, fast forward a bit - I had her as a foster, sharing custody of Ringo and Lola, had Bridget with me, was adopted by a local cat that I named Mister - I saw a pic of a puppy from Big Fluffy Dog Rescue on Facebook and knew she was supposed to be with me. Millie came into my life and has been quite the trip so far. That same night I went to pick up Millie, Sadie made note of her displeasure at me leaving me all by herself that she managed to set off the alarm in the house and had the security people calling me while I was trying to get Millie home. Geez.

Her and Sadie hit it off so well, I knew we were all supposed to be together and so I adopted Sadie. The holidays came and went and while Sadie was perfectly fine when Ringo and Lola were over (they all free roamed in the house while I was gone, Millie still gets crated cuz she's a little thief), Sadie missed their presence when they weren't here and out with her. So I started looking and found Buddy through LWR - I loaded up Sadie, Millie, and Ringo (I didn't think Lola would necessarily enjoy this trip) and traveled 6 hours to Tennessee to meet Buddy at his foster mom's house. We got to spend the night with her and her Weims Baron and Willow (and other foster at the time, Velvet). Vicki made my Weims matching coats while we were there:

And so, Buddy was officially a Hoosier now (he's the gray Weim on the right side of Sadie) and traveled back home with us (in my CR-V at the time - it was packed!).

So Buddy came to us at the end of January this year 2018, tax season started (my first in my new place) and that kept me busy up until the last week when a pup came in need and I was able to answer again. Wyatt has to be one of the easiest going Weims I've met AND he couldn't care less about cats (a plus here):

He was pretty overweight when he first came, but he's a big boy anyways. Jim, my ex, watched him for a few days for me while I went to my sisters baby shower and when I got back, he wanted to adopt him. This last picture is Wyatt going to his new furever home with Jim. So now Wyatt gets some one on one time with Jim when Ringo and Lola are with me, and he gets to chill with his new siblings when they're at the farm house. Everyone wins.

Wyatt was gone a bit when another guy came up in need and I picked up Shadow in July of this year (middle Weim in the harness):

Such a sweetie, but similar to Houston, liked cats a little too much and so Bridget and Mister spent a large portion of the summer on the screened in back porch. They weren't super upset about it though - it was pretty nice out there.

 A recent pic of Shadow in his new home, living the good life:)

There! We're caught up to Jade today (mostly). Lots of stories in between these pics but you get the jist of it. I just couldn't keep up with the blog with the last 3 I've had but it's still worked out well. 

Jade - 10November2018

Got an email from the rescue on Friday that there was a little Weim gal sitting in a shelter that we needed to help out. Last Saturday I picked up Jade. This was the first thing I saw:

For an 8 month old puppy she was pretty calm, especially being in the shelter on a particularly busy day.  I heard she liked stuffed animals and so had brought her a few little things. She liked the skunk:

Her intake paperwork from the shelter stated she didn't live with dogs previously but she seemed to figure out how fun playing with others was  - her paperwork said she was "friendly, affectionate, playful, fun loving, and friendly to visitors (these are all options that can be selected, not just something the previous owner came up with)." She met my boyfriend when we first got home and as soon as she had hopped out of the car - really scared at first but it didn't take long before she warmed up. I feel like it was just the overall change and having just been crated in the truck (even though she was right behind my seat and could see me the whole time). Confinement anxiety (not necessarily separation anxiety) was something mentioned on the intake paperwork and seen first hand from the shelter. Like bust out of industrial crates not liking them. She does have a wound on a back leg that's healing from one of these ventures.

I got her home and she was pretty nervous at first but it sure didn't take long for her to meet and greet my crew and make herself at home (especially in the back yard):

This evening on one of the trips chasing Ringo and Lola (chasing the ball), Jade got a little bit too much up in Ringos business while he was playing fetch (that's his professional job btw). Even though it was just the night before that he bowed down to her getting snippy with him when I was petting him and she decided noone else needed my loving, when it came to fetch, Ringo had NONE of it and quickly put her in her place (basically stopped the game to yell at her). She responded lovely by stopping and "listening" to him, not getting snarly back, and then quickly jumping back into the game. Good puppy talk. And interesting how it seems they all prioritize and "choose their battles." Or maybe I'm just projecting on my babies:)

Buddy was fine with her sitting next to him on the couch (he's older, like 9, and pretty chill), and Sadie, my 2 year old blue, is on the floor:

Her and my 1 year old red heeler/corgi mix, Millie, got along the best from the start:

She met the cats, sniffed them, nudged at them, they stood their ground (I'm pretty sure my Bridget has let loose her own string of cuss words for the number of dogs I've brought through the house over the years). Absolutely no aggression or food or toy guarding seen from this girl so far.........until I let her on the bed (and she hops right on furniture - and also listens well and will jump down when told). I had Bridget (my 7 pound gray Manx) on the bed with me and Jade came up.....and I caught the look in her eyes right before she snapped at Bridget. The snap was a guarding of me snap, like she had claimed my lap. Happened again shortly after when Lola (4.5 year old GSP/terrier mix) came over to my side of the bed and wanted up. Jade got a little crappy with her. 

Since then, Jade has shown this "person" guarding with me with all the other dogs too except Millie (and she did it with Bridget first). We'll see if she does it with Millie but interestingly enough, Millie is the only other dog that will really "protect" me too (usually if we're somewhere else other than the house though). At night, when we're winding down, maybe if I go sit in the middle of the floor with everyone and various dogs come up to get pets in my lap - Jade walks up from across the room to remind them I'm her human. You can see it coming in her eyes. I don't allow this and will remove myself from the situation. Her intake paperwork had "protective" checked and I'm guessing this is what that was about. They didn't mention anything from the shelter though.  So far, this is the ONLY less than attractive trait about this pup.

Other updates so far, she's had some accidents in the house in the first 24 hours, but I'm back to letting the pack out more frequently (I thought I had all puppies grown in the house!) and she seems to be getting the hang of things. Intake paperwork said she was housebroken but I def allow for the whole stress of getting uprooted (2nd time in a week - 1st time she was rehomed at 5 months old, then again to the shelter at 8 months, and then to me a week later). The previous owner stated she couldn't go to their new apartment they were moving into which is how she came to be with LWR and me. 

She does like being in the same room as me so far and is passed out on the floor as I type. God bless the new floors I installed this past summer (they're waterproof and hold up really well to all the paws and nails!):

Oh, and she had a little vest on at the shelter but it was their's. I had one that Millie had outgrown and she seems to love it and has worn it the whole time she's been here so far. Besides stuffed animals (that unfortunately don't live long around this house), she enjoys a good bone to chew on:

She had some help lining these up:) 

I didn't get any pictures at the time, but last night, Bridget wanted out of the bedroom. I keep a taller doggie gate with a cat door in it, to allow the cats free roam and Jade can fit through it. I unlocked the cat door and Jade came in, hopped right up in bed with us (it was actually more of a sliding action to get over the humans and right in the middle of us) and proceeded to lay completely still for the next 2 hours. Good bed fellow. Now if she can just let go of the people guarding thing she could do that more often. I did get a pic of her on the bed when I was getting ready for work though:

Only other things to report, I have her on Earthborn Primitive Natural kibble with bits of raw thrown in . She's had beef heart, eggs, and tonight, she devoured a piece of a smaller turkey neck. That was the first raw meaty bone I'd given her and she did an excellent job chewing it thoroughly and working it down. I plan on taking her to the vet Wednesday to get her heartworm test and set up for her spay. Fingers crossed!

Houston update - 20Jan2017

Okay, we now have 4 rounds of laser therapy and a round of acupuncture under our belts. The vet tech was strategically popping treats in his mouth while Dr. Baker inserted the needles for the acupuncture (great trick). He was the sole attention of 3 women while he sat for the treatment so he was doing okay. I can't remember how long we sat there, but he did really well. 2nd time at the vet he was starting to feel a little comfier and hopped up on the bench next to me so he could gaze out the window while we waited.

For the acupuncture, and since I told them some of the woes we've recently had with his cone, they let us try this big tire thing, which he wore for his acupuncture round. I don't think it's enough protection for him to be left alone with this, but it definitely helped during the therapy. He was so undisturbed by everything, he even did a little stretch for me after it all.

I kept it on him throughout the evening and he didn't seem to mind.

It's so funny when he doesn't move anything but his tail.

Wound update as of 17Jan2017 - getting smaller in overall size but the biggest strides are the depth of it is healing up (it was deeper than before):

So much progress on the initial guarding issues. Here are Houston and Lola and them Houston and Ringo. No growls or other ugly words shared at all. Bones can now lay around the house without issue. We still always monitor everyone when we know the toys are out though.

In case there was any doubt, he's pretty comfy on the furniture (he wasn't allowed on the furniture at his last house, but he seems to know what to do on furniture):

The humans in the house actually sit on the floor when he's in one of our chairs like this - he just looks to comfy to disturb. I don't even think I look that comfy when I sit in it!

And finally, I think he tried to hide in the shadows the other morning when I needed to leave for work. Nice try buddy. FYI, he is SUPER quiet. I'm pretty sure he retracts his claws like a cat when he wants.

Summary and update on Houstons old wound

Houstons old wound has been well on the way to getting all healed up. Here is a picture from his previous owners, and I'm going to assume this was taken fairly close to when we first got him a little over 2 months ago:

The picture of him in front of the fireplace shows him about 4 weeks later:

And then on December 29th, Jim left for work and before leaving, he checked on Houston, who was nice and curled up tight right next to me in bed (without his cone on). I have no idea how long that lasted, but I woke up to a really weird noise coming from the living room. I flew in there and found Houston all stretched out in the middle of the living room floor, chewing his wound. This was the first and only time we've actually caught him doing anything other than licking it. I don't think he had much time alone with it, but he did some damage, as you can see in this next picture:

I shared the news with Jim, and we both agreed this could have happened to either one of us on watch for Houston. We had gotten too comfy with him and needed to up our attention level to him again (disappointing for sure, because it had gotten so close to being fully healed up). So we were put back somewhat on the healing process, but I didn't get too concerned until a few days later, I had just applied some healing balm to some dry areas of his wound, and then needed to go take care of some things outside with the cats and chickens (so Houston couldn't go with me). I left him in the front room with his cone on. I came back about 10 minutes later and found that Houston had gotten a portion of his cone so wet from licking that he'd made it more pliable, and was actually able to squish it down enough so he could get to his wound and lick. Srsly, you remember what his cone looks like, right?

I tucked this note in the back of my mind, until the very next day, we basically went through the same routine, and I came back in the house and found he was laid out on the bed (cone on), and was working around the cone to lick. At this point, I started thinking about the fact we left him with water at floor level every day when we went to work (because he could squish the cone down and get to the water), and we'd given him a bone to chew on with his cone on (again, he could squish it down to pick stuff up). Okay, so he's got this newly chewed open wound now, and I've put some balm on it and then stuck the cone on his head and left him alone in places where he could get all sprawled out. Noted. I was a little nervous though, since the cone that could not be gotten around, had just been compromised twice. I quit putting the balm on right before he needed the cone on and left alone. We went back to only leaving him in the front room (with a bed, just not as nice as he has in the house), and no water left out for him (not gone super long stretches and he's well hydrated all other times). This was working, but just to touch base with the rescue, I emailed Jackie and Denise about what happened, and we all started looking into what deterrents had been already tried (cone-wise), and what might still be left to try, along with looking into more of the potential behavioral aspect of his wound licking.  Here he is a week after he chewed on it:

Jackie turned up some recommendations in his past that had not been pursued (combo of drugs for pain and behavioral recommendations) and so, we got an appt for him at the Bargersville Vet Hospital in Franklin, IN. We also all agreed on a cone that hadn't been tried for him and put that purchase request in a the same time.

The vet we were trying to see is pretty booked, but due to a well timed cancellation, we were able to get Houston to see Dr. Baker on Monday, January 9th, 2017. Here is the writeup from the Rescue coordinator, Jackie, who met us there. We're still waiting for the bigger writeup from Dr. Baker (she's srsly a busy lady!). 

"Houston was able to see Dr. Baker several weeks early due to a cancellation.  His weight = 84.1, which is heavy for him.  Lauren will cut back on food, increase exercise, and watch the treats.  

Lauren brought a chip for him, but when scanned first, it was found that he was already chipped?  The previous owners said they didn't think he was chipped, but he is.

Houston has a delightful and friendly personality.  You can tell something is up with his rear end when he stands.  He turns his right back hock in a bit and frequently takes weight off of that leg when he stands.  His rump does not give the appearance of a strong bird dog able to power through a field all day.

Dr. Baker got a couple xrays of Houston with him on his side, but he would not lay on his back and let his hips be manipulated for the xrays she really needed, therefore, we had to do a light sedation.  No one was prepared for this, but it had to be done.  He has a fractured femur that has healed incorrectly with some remodeling present.  The spaces between his vertebra on the lateral view all looked ok, so it seems there was no compression damage in the car accident he suffered 5 years ago.    The staff took measurements of his thighs to compare as his progress goes along.  His right one is noticeably smaller.  His right leg is also 2 cm shorter than his left, also from the incorrectly healed fracture.  This imbalance in his rear causes him lumbral-sacral discomfort.  Dr. Baker was unable to fully extend his hips behind him, and he had visible reaction to being palpated in that area.  His hip is not subluxated, but not totally seated properly either.  He also had one piece of buckshot in his left hip.

Lauren has noted that when he does downward dog, he does not go into it all the way, only part way.  He also sits with his right leg out to the side.  He likely has chronic pain in his right leg.  Not all dogs react to that, but he reacts to it by licking to get relief.  There could be a deep infection in the soft tissue.  Did he impinge nerves during healing?  Does he get endorphin release from licking?  

The course of action is:

#1 - to do laser treatments on the leg and lumbral-sacral area between now and the 30th, which is when he sees Dr. Baker again for a review and acupuncture.  He has laser appointments set up for 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, and 30 January. This will be somewhere around $25/appointment because it is a tech appointment, not a vet appointment,  It could be less than that, but I don't think more.  

#2 - Start him on gabapentin (300 mg 2x/day) and amitriptyline (=Elavil, 50 mg 2x/day).  This combination is used for chronic lickers of granulomas and flank suckers.  It is a pain/nerve med plus a behavioral altering med.

#3 - Apply silver sulfadine topically to right thigh 2 times a day.  Lydocaine topical is a possibility in the future as well.

Dr. Baker encourages him to play with the other dogs as he has been doing, and for Lauren to get him to downward dog stretches often.  He also got a free nail job and teeth scraping while down.

The Gaba, elavil and silver sulfadine are reasonably priced, so we got lucky there.

If this course of action doesn't seem to be helping him by the 30th, we will look into seeing if there might be a chronic infection deep in the tissues.  Dr. Baker didn't see anything like that on the xrays and Theresa Crabtree did not feel like he had that either (and she called the femoral break before the xrays were done).

Lauren did contact the previous owner to see if she had contact info for the vet Houston went to during the accident and the owner's name at the time.  Vet was Scott Nieves, Beaumont Vet, 859-608-2884.  I called and left a vm for Scott, told him what I needed (vet records for Houston at the time) but have not gotten a return call yet.

Houston does have a double ear infection - yeast and bacteria.  He got some entederm ointment to be applied 2 times a day and massaged in."

Here's our boy at the vet that day getting laser therapy (he was still a little groggy from the partial sedation):

And back home that night:

As of today, he's had another round of the laser therapy and been on his meds since last Monday night. The new cone came in but we're not thinking it's going to be any better (and maybe worse) than his current one. Not wide enough as is to cover the wound when he turns around and the method of attachment needs better securing. We examined his current cone and are going to try putting additional reinforcement in a few more areas on the outer edge to see if that helps. We had an appointment for this coming Monday for laser, but luck IS on our side (sometimes:) and Dr. Baker had another cancellation that morning and Houston will be able to get acupuncture and laser that day (god bless makeup snow days at school too)! Another laser appointment for next Thursday and then we'll have a solid 4 treatments and almost 2 weeks of meds under our belt to give some more updates hopefully. Because this guy deserves it. And he says he deserves his own bone at all time. He even sleeps with it:)

January 10th, 2017 - Houston

Now for more than just pictures. Like I said in the last post, we've settled into some routines. A few updates:

No good pictures for verification, but Houston likes snow. The super cold weather (like we had this past weekend) starts to bother him a little (high stepping when he's been out there very long - makes for getting his "business" done a little faster though:). And by liking the snow I mean he's cool with running through it and he really enjoys eating it. But not the yellow stuff. He knows better.

Not sure if he can or likes to swim, but he definitely enjoys walking through puddles (and drinking out of them. True sign of a farm dog.).

He's good at taking pills/medication in a pill pocket.

Still keeping him away from the bags of meow. 

He's not a picky eater. He sits for his food before I have to ask. Which is prolly why he weighed in at 84 pounds yesterday (up from 75 about 2 months ago). Whoops! Backing off meal sizes and running a little more.......

He's becoming easier about the guarding of toys. Don't get me wrong, each pooch in this house knows exactly where a bone is when it's out in the open. And they will take advantage and grab one if someone isn't looking. But there hasn't been any real ugliness about it, and I definitely consider this video proof of getting better about it (everyone has a bone and they sat this way on their own!):

He uses his paws sometimes when he wants to get your attention - watch quick because he's fast!

Here he is with Lola, being super sweet and cute.

Just getting outside to run around

On high alert for my guys running through the brush and water

He's been great with other dog introductions - this is Quincy, our back yard neighbors dog. Quincy is left to roam and Houston wasn't phased at all when he first came bounding over to greet him, and always enjoys a little romp together.