McKay's Mammoth Visit (late January)

I had a bit of a scare with McKay.  

Now that I look back on it, it was quite silly to be so worried.  And it also taught me a lesson as a pet care provider.  Always be more thorough than you think necessary when checking a pup out during your initial contact with him or her!  

The story goes:  McKay's mom let me know that he'd just had surgery on his tongue.  But at the end of the first day, when we were out playing in the yard, while I was shoveling piles of PooSnow, I looked down at M playing with the others and noticed that his front leg looked bloody!  I stopped the fun and made him sit still for a minute (which was not easy, since they were all playing so hard), and while he wasn't gushing, there was definitely some "ooze" happening, and it appeared as if he'd scraped his leg against something hard or sharp and it had sliced off the top layer of skin!  Yikes!  

Went inside to wash his leg, see what sort of damage was done and if we needed to go to the vet... and all the while I'm thinking, "What did he get scraped by?"

Try To Put 2 and 2 Together...

Did he slip on the edge of the deck?  The two steps to the yard are still icy, maybe...  Did another pup somehow bite... nah, bites don't look like scrapes.  I don't remember him yelping out in pain... is he that tough?  Was it the chicken-wire fencing?  Well, he did fall through the snow over in the corner (which was really funny, btw, he was so clumsy and kept breaking through the top layer of snow as he tried to run!).  Maybe there's something buried under there?

That's when it hit me.  "Oh, wait.  He just had surgery.  Maybe this was from where the IV was placed and him breaking through the crusty snow has irritated the skin."

Yep, that was it.  Mystery solved.  

And you know, I could have avoided all of that worry by simply doing a more thorough "check-in" when he arrived.  Checking for bumps, scrapes, dry skin, tender or sore spots.  I usually do give the new pups a good rub-down when they first arrive to help them calm down, which allows me to notice these types of things.  But McKay needed no soothing.  He was thrilled to go run and play with the others as soon as we got back to the house!  So I got lazy and didn't do my normal check.

A big thank you to McKay for reminding me to stay on my toes!

Jake's walk

Jake has some SPUNK today! 

And obviously Bella and her "brother" Hunter had a blast, too.   Jake even went #2!  :)  You know how happy I get when he actually goes.  I'm guessing he's going to be exhausted today, since this "old man" sure didn't act his age.  He leapt around in the snow, which was surprisingly packed down, which allowed me to follow around in the meadow.  Had to tell Bella, "Bad Water" as we approached the stream! 

Naz in December

Here's Naz with a few buddies: Charlie the golden doodle, Nellie the puggle and Winston the english bulldog.  She and Charlie definitely burned off some energy together.  Thank goodness the trail had finally been groomed - much easier than plodding through the powder!

Mika (my sister's husky/wolf) joins in on the fun in the video above.  And below is Naz "helping" me with Charlie, who needed his MidDay walk.  They would sprint up and down the street, skidding all over the place.  :)

And then, the next day, she came out for Jake's walk.  These two are similar, gentle souls.  Of course, Naz gets along with everyone, so I knew they'd be buddies.  He was so happy to meet a new friend.

Nellie in December

Below is Nellie with her little buddy, Winston.  We'd just finished up with a long walk, and these two were pooped when we got back in the car!  Check out the photos below of our walk and of a few other friends (including Naz the bernese mtn. dog and Charlie the golden doodle).

SO exhausted!  Nellie would nuzzle my arm until I let her rest her chin there.  She slept like this the entire way home, and didn't even move when we parked.  Such sweet, sleepy eyes.

 

Charlie's Christmas in Mammoth (Part 1)

Happy Charlie guy, and Bella had a blast playing with him, too!  They loved destroying the pine needles they found in the snow.  More to come, since I took a LOT of video and pictures during those two weeks around Christmas.  :)

Winston in Mammoth (Dec 2010)