Ever meet a wonderful dog and just KNOW “this one is not mine”?

Summer is a sweetheart – very funny, smart, high-energy loves to run and play – retrieve, tug, whatever – was fine with Bryce and Jayda. Very tuned-in to her foster mom, she didn’t hesitate to play with me but would constantly sneak little “check in” glances at “mom” to make sure it was OK. I could easily see her doing flyball, agility – I bet she’d love herding!

She just wasn’t “mine”. If anyone reads this and thinks she could be “theirs”, let me know – I’d love to help her find “her person” – she deserves it!Continue Reading

Bryce, Jayda and I are taking a ride out to Pennsylvania tomorrow to meet a Sheltie girl named Summer.Continue Reading

So today’s Bryce’s birthday…

… which means tomorrow is one year since Sally had the stroke. Of course, that’s been very much on my mind lately.

I had just taken Bryce out and was on my porch when a brown van, driving past stops in front of the house. The driver leans out the window and asks me something … since Bryce was barking as usual , I couldn’t hear WHAT so I picked Bryce up… and walked over….

“Do you still have Sally?”

I almost fell over – it was the owner of her litter sister Allie!

Allie is still alive!! At nearly 16, she’s survived THREE strokes – her thyroid function is completely dependent on medication and she has a touchy gut like her sister, but she’s still around. They didn’t think she’d pull through her most recent stroke but she did. He said she leans to the left a bit but it doesn’t seem to bother her much and she eats like a horse. They also have a younger sheltie now, around Jayda’s age (and they have a white mix breed male they’ve had for a while – he’s around the same age as Bryce).

Good news and really sad at the same time – brought up all the “woulda, shoulda, coulda’s ” and “what ifs” again. Had a pretty good cry over it…

Really strange timing though, isn’t it? They don’t live very far, but we haven’t had occasion to speak to each other in years!

Here’s an old picture of the sisters back when they were the “trouble twins” at around 5 weeks old, Allie’s on the left. About 2 days after I took this, Sally figured out how to climb out of that kiddie pool. Allie wasn’t far behind her.

That’s where we all are at the moment! Between Bryce’s tummy upset and this contract I’m working we’ve missed most of another season of trials :(. I don’t even have Bryce or Jayda in any classes – there’s just no time!

The assignment is with a small design/marketing firm that does work for some of the top pharmaceutical companies. They have a bunch of sites/patient information email series that are supposed to go live over the next couple of weeks, I’m there to help them do that, mostly in the form of testing and QA’ing the material. Basically, I spend the day mercilessly picking apart other peoples’ work .. then they thank me and pay me for it :)!

Besides not getting home until after 6 PM, I’m doing upkeep on my own sites and work for other clients early AM and at night – bleh!!!

The money is good and will help fund a lot of things, including (hopefully) next Fall’s agility trials, but right now I’m tired!!

Didn’t have a chance to steam clean them after the mud from our massive rainstorm, and now they’re not only taking a beating because it’s “that time” for Jayda, but to make things worse Bryce’s digestive tract is still messed up after his dental procedures! VERY unusual for him – looks like either he’s having side effects from the antibiotic or he was a little “off” from the anesthesia and the antibiotic just made things worse. He was better for one day, then things fell apart again. He’s been eating a bland diet since the dental but it isn’t helping much. Fortunately it’s (knock on wood) not the “frequent urges” sort of problem, and he’s been able to do everything outside, but I feel so bad for the little guy. Spoke to his vet this AM and she had me add Flagyl and Pepto Bismal to the mix – hoping that helps and I don’t just end up with a bright PINK mess in the potty area next time!

Other than that, he’s eating well and acting like himself – thank goodness for that.

Adding to my stress, I just started a full-time temp contract so I can’t be home watching him all day as usual (though I am running home at lunchtime). And there’s Skyline’s trial next weekend – if he isn’t himself by mid-week I will probably scratch him. Jayda’s already going to be sitting this out but at least her entries are refundable!