Sweet girl

I'm such a mom, or at least that's what D said as we drove off from the house last Friday headed to the Gulf Shores.  Our poor little pup had to get yet another surgery done on her leg last Monday.  I, of course, left all worried about her and her still swollen leg.

This time the surgery was to remove a plate that was put in the last time.  She was doing great recovering, running around like a crazy head and pretty much back to her spunky self.  However, about 3 weeks ago, she started getting this sore on a section of her scar.  It was strange because it didn't seem to hurt her, but there was definitely some fluid in that area.  We took her in and of course there was not exact answer.  After it started leaking, we had to take her in again and make a decision between a course of antibiotics or just removing the plate (they thought it was rubbing, thus causing the irritation/infection).  In the end he said we would probably have to remove it, so we just bit the bullet and went for it. 

Here is Bella, post surgery on the day of (left) and the day after (right).  She has such a sad face when she is all drugged up.  Poor baby.  This time the recovery has been MUCH better, although, she still thinks she can run around and be crazy even though she's not supposed to for another week.  When we picked her up, they asked if we wanted to keep the plate and the screws that she had.  I asked D and he said we were going to frame them.  I am pretty sure he was kidding, but I went ahead and got them.  This was before I realized how much they had cost originally.  I decided since this little piece of titanium was so freaking expensive, she needed to sport it on her collar.  Show off her battle wounds.

I take so many pictures of this adorable little girl.  I could just eat her up.  She is SO sweet and has had such a hard 2 years.  I just hope that we can now put this knee behind us and she can go back to being her happy little self.  She did a lot of sleeping these last couple of weeks.  Sometimes she just has to hide her face, case in point, the far two pictures.  The bottom one is her sticking her nose in the corner of the couch.  The top right melts my heart, every once in a while, she will use her paws to cover her face.

Now, of course, she is super hyper.  She was so happy to see us come home on Tuesday, I thought that little nubbin of a tail was never going to stop.  Finally, I've got to leave you with her and Steel playing.  Bella was about even in height with him standing on the floor and her on our bed.  She was getting all excited, rolling around and pawing at his face.  They are just too cute to handle.

Love B.

So much crazy

Being so busy over the weekend, I didn't get to spend as much time with my crazy, loveable pups.  Last night we made sure to take them for a long walk around the neighborhood.  Some days, I swear, walks make them even crazier and I know D thinks part of it is my fault.  I tend to get them all wound up, but I just can't help it.  :o)  After last night's walk, we played a little in the back yard and this was the end result...

She just looks like a nut in these pictures!! When she is super hot, she comes and lays on the tile by the front door.  I'm so glad that she is happy again after her surgery!

Photo Shoot

Last week one of the oh-so-talented photographers in town emailed me about Steel being in a photo shoot she was doing.  She saw a picture of him on Facebook and thought he would be the perfect subject for the look she was aiming for.  He is pretty cute, so I agreed to bring him to the shoot. 

He is pretty good at listening when there are not distractions.  He was so ADD during the shoot and would only sit for a treat for about 5 seconds.  He is still a puppy after all, not that he looks like it.  We were downtown at the Chateau Bellevue, so tons of traffic, and all he wanted to do was eat the rose petals off the ground.  Silly pup.  She did get this amazing picture of him and the model. 

Isn't he beautiful??  The poor model - he can pull like no other if he wants to, so I told her to just let go if he gets to be too much.  It's an art to look good and man handle a 90lb dog. :o)  You've got to see the rest of the pictures she posted - amazing!  I love them!!

Before we left, she also snapped a few candid shots of Steel, because she is just that sweet.

Now an update on our sweet Bella bear... Her surgery leg is doing much better, and she is walking a ton better on it.  The swelling has gone down, no more bruising, and now we just have to wait until Monday to get the staples removed.  Sounds great right?  Yea, except Bella is never that easy.  I compare her to D and all of this random health surprises..

I know I mentioned her other back foot was swollen in my last post.  Well of course that didn't just go away nicely.  The swelling started to go down, but then her pads started peeling off.  At this point I was really worried about an infection and who knows what else.  We took her back to the specialty hospital last Saturday and had an internal medicine doctor look at it.  I go through the run down of events and say that she hasn't been licking it, but it is leaking (the best way to describe it) from the bottom of her paw.  She takes her back and Bella was not running a temperature, but she says she thinks it's just from the swelling and that it's peeling because she has been licking it.  At this point I was extremely frustrated, because I just sat there and told her that we've been watching her closely and she HADN'T been licking it.  Ugh. So we leave with some antibiotics and I keep watching it.  Well the pad was not getting better.  In fact most of the large pad was completely off and the full pad was off of one of her top toes.  We asked if we should cover it or clean it and they just say to keep it clean by wiping it with a warm water rag.  Okay we were doing that - still no change. 
Finally on Monday, I take her out and wipe her foot off and see this.  {warning - it's not a pretty picture)

Immediately I thought, this is not right.  To me it looked like some kind of growth, terrible bacteria, grossness!  I had Scott help me take this picture, because it hurts her to touch her pad.  I'm talking about that black/brownish thing on the pink tissue, not me pulling back the pad.  I send this picture to D and I send it to the specialty clinic via email.  I get a call that afternoon and they still don't think it's really anything but an infection.  Again, no additional treatment, just the antibiotics.  When it continued to peel off and still nothing had changed in that day, I finally called my regular vet.  I tried to describe it to him and he had me send him this exact same picture to his phone.  He called me back and said that it was not normal and asked what medicine she was on.  All 4 of them are good, but he said we needed to get an antibiotic cream to get rid of something like this.  When I asked him if we should be wrapping it or cleaning it, he said absolutely.  He understood that it's impossible to keep her foot clean and actually get this heeled. 

FINALLY.  I felt like we were headed in the right direction.  I don't think it was that hard of a stretch to understand that something was going on with her foot.  So, it will still take a while to fully heal, but I feel better about it.  The more we see our regular vet, the more I love him. 
xxoo B

Recovery

{warning - this is long and has some not so pretty pictures of Bella's surgery}

On Monday we had to take our little girl in to get her knee fixed.  We met with a specialist, and he strongly encouraged us to move forward with surgery.  She was diagnosed with a torn left cranial cruciate ligament or CCL.  He gave us our two options, and of course, there wasn't just one right answer.  I'm going to rant for a moment...

It is so frustrating to go to a doctor, spend a ton of money, and not get specific answers.  I know they have to be that way to cover their asses, but come on.  All I want is to hear the best way to move forward.  I have no idea what I'm doing here, that's why I came to you! 

Okay, I think I'm done.  Don't get me wrong, I really like the doctor we have and the place we went, but I just need some guidance. 

We had two options to fix her knee, and of course, we went with the more expensive one.  Thanks, Bella.  No, we both agreed that we would feel more comfortable knowing that she had a plate and screws holding it all together and not just scar tissue.  The procedure is called a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy or TPLO. 


I had to drop her off that morning, and it was SO sad.  Steel and I had to say goodbye to a fluffy friend the day before, and they make you sign all those 'worst case scenario' lines where 'death may be possible'.  I was strong and made it out of the office before getting teary eyed.  The kicker was when they make you take off everything, even her collar and take it with you.  She just had this look on her face when I left, and of course, pulled away from the nurse when I was leaving.  Tear.  But I took a deep breath and had to remind myself that they do this all the time and she really needed this to get better.


Later that afternoon I got a call from our doctor that she made it through like a champ.  She actually had about 80% of her ligament torn, so they went ahead and clipped it entirely.  Apparently, if left in fragments, it can cause problems or pain in the future.  She spent the night at the hospital and then D took yesterday off to get her.  I didn't get to see her until the afternoon, but I was glad he got to spend some time with her. 


Her leg looks pretty beat up.  I thought yesterday was bad, but today is even worse.  She is on pain medication, but still seems to be in some pain.  She just can't get comfortable and changes positions a lot. 

Her recovery plan involves 8 weeks of keeping her quite and confined.  No jumping, running, playing, etc for 8 weeks.  We have to ice her leg for these first 3-4 days, because of the bruising.  Then in about two weeks, she gets to go get the staples removed.  

It's going to be a long 8 weeks...

Bella didn't get to say bye to our fluffy friend Fez, but Steel had the BEST time.  It was a rainy day, but the dogs were loving it.

We will miss all your hyper, growling, playful self! Love, B, Steel and Bbears.  

Sad day

My poor little Bella bear is at the vet this morning. I mentioned before that she hurt her leg, but it just isn't getting better. She is getting x-rays this morning to decide if she needs surgery or not. When we talked with the vet last night, he said he's diagnosed this a ton of times, and she either tore or completely ruptured a ligament in her back left knee. Tear.

I just want her to feel better. 
B

Meet Steel

That's right, Bella bear now has a new little brother.  We picked him up from San Antonio on Friday.  He's an 8 week old Great Dane.  How cute is he?

D and I had the hardest time picking out a name - we are going to be in real trouble if we ever have kiddos.  We were looking into Greek god names, words that pertained to 'huge' {since his daddy is 140lbs}, and D had to look into some game related characters.  We liked Ajax and Orion, but Steel just seemed to fit him given his blue coloring.  Out of the 11 in the litter, he had 3 other brothers and 1 sister still left, but we decided to go with him mostly because he was the most calm.  He also had the most coloring on his belly and some white on his paws as well.

D was sitting on the ground, and the pups were all about him.  The girl was the most nuts and was running and jumping all over the place.  She also welcomed D by jumping and biting his nipple.  Hilarious.

The first thing we did with him was bring him home to see B.  She was SO happy when he got here.  She had the biggest smile I'd ever seen and was running around like a crazy face.  The video is pretty hilarious and ends with the first pee on the carpet by Steel.  We then surprised my parents and brother when we brought him over to their house - Oops, I must have forgotten to tell them we were getting one. :o)  Apollo, my brothers pup, was really good with him as well.  He's small at the moment, but they aren't going to know what to do when he gets big, in about oh... a month.

We already had a beach trip planned, so we brought him along.  He basically was in someone's hands the whole time since he is such a snuggle bug.  Bella loved the beach and playing in the sand.  Here are some great moments from our trip down to Port Aransas.

The dogs were SO excited to play in the water

Our nice little set up - that's right we all fit into Scotty's FJ - all 5 adults 2 dogs and 1 pup.

This is by far my FAVORITE picture from the trip.  B is such a silly head - I love her.

Steel's ears were hilarious in the wind

We spent the rest of the weekend recovering from the trip.  It was a long drive home, but worth it.  We all had such a good time.  I even talked them into stopping at DQ for some much needed soft serve on the way home.  Sunday was great because B and Steel could really play and get to know each other.

B's face is so funny - I placed Steel by her and that lasted for a few minutes.

 Steel loves to bite on her face and jowls and she doesn't even care.  This sums up their time playing together.   

Have to end with the video of them playing as well.  Love these two.

Brownies, Bread and Poptarts... Oh my.

It's almost been a week now since my traumatic experience with my pup trying to 'fly' out the car window while we were driving at 20-25 mph.  I must admit, I was pretty emotional about it and just felt HORRIBLE.  Things happen, and I know it wasn't any ones fault, but since she was sitting on my lap, I really felt like I should have been able to stop it.  Well, she is fine.  She really only got superficial cuts and bruises.  I must say it is interesting to see how D and I cope with a stressful situation like that.  Me, I stay pretty calm, but like to say the f-word a LOT.  We immediately took her to the emergency clinic and had her examined. We received good news that she did not have any broken bones, head trauma, or lung issues.    

Since then, we really have just been trying to spoil her and let her rest.  D took the day off right after the accident, so we've been in the house pretty much from Thursday through Sunday.  So what did I do with all this time... Not much.  :o)  Thursday and Friday I still was working, but by Saturday I needed to do something.  I was browsing through my normal blog sites when I saw my friend posted this brownie recipe on her blog - I had to try them.  How can you possibly resist brownies topped with salted peanuts, chopped up peanut butter cups and then top that with chocolate-peanut butter Rice Krispy fluff?  {Sorry my iPhone camera decided it didn't want to focus anymore, so these images are a little blurry}

I then decided to finally make homemade Pop Tarts.  I had seen the recipe on Smitten Kitchen a while back and have been dying to make them since.  I had a hard time deciding what filling to make, but I ended up doing mostly cinnamon sugar and one fruit filled.   I definitely recommend trying your hand at this if you love the idea of a 'gourmet' Pop Tart. 

Finally, since it had been quite a while since I have made homemade bread - by hand - I decided to give this recipe a try.  I really would like to master the art of delicious homemade bread with out a machine.  This was an intense recipe, meaning it took forever!  But I think it was the best bread I have ever made.  Maybe that was the reason...

You can imagine how crazy my kitchen looked after I baked all these things on Saturday afternoon.  Although I must say my house smelled amazing!  Good thing I'm running all these calories off.


Love B

Puppy Love

This past weekend we watched our friends pup, Abby, and B fell in love with one of her toys.   She is hilarious.  Some nights we stay up too 'late' for her, so she just goes to bed on her own.  I found her on our bed one night snuggling up to her new favorite friend.

So when our friends got back, I asked where she got it so we could get her one of her own.  If you have a pet that loves stuffed toys, but always rips them apart, you have to try this one.  You can even choose from a sheep or cow.

She can't get enough of her moo cow.  Sorry, the pictures are not the best... stupid iPhone :o)

Love the Bella Bean. B

Turning ONE

Bella Bear officially turns ONE today!  Happy Birthday to my adorable little pup!!!!! 

P.S. I am definitely throwing her a bday party this evening.  Photos to come. :o)
Love B

Pretty New Collar

Look what I got in the mail yesterday! 

I decided that it was about time she got a new collar.  Although I loved the one she had, it was beginning to fade out since I had to wash it so much.  I thought a little more color would be nice for the spring.  Plus, maybe with the bright colors people will know she is a girl.   Ha. I think it's her build, but everyone always says 'Oh, he is so cute'.   I got this one from the same seller on Etsy and was very happy with the results. 

I keep looking at the design and think to myself that it might not be that hard to make myself.... I see a project in my future. :o)  

She is such a silly girl.  She has been so playful lately that I can't seem to get a good picture of her and her pretty new collar, but these will do for now. 

 Love B

Comfy, Cozy, Lazy kind of night

Happy Thursday!  Although I know I live in Texas, and yes I grew up with much colder weather, I still can't seem to get warm today.  It's amazing how quickly your body adjust to this warmer climate, and even the temperature getting into the 30's makes me cold.  Tonight has turned out to be a night for me and Bella on the couch.  She likes to snuggle up to me and is quite the little heater, which I love.  

 The boys, however, have been pretty busy on the bathroom.  Here are a few picture from what we have done so far.  They are currently working on putting on the new door that will open up the other way.  We should be painting and putting the floors down in the next few days! 

Here's to warm snugglie blankets! 
B

Training

Bella had her first basic training class today.  I should really say that Darrell and I had our first class on how to train our pup.  :o)  After doing some research, we found Training By Tara.  Coincidentally,  one of my good friends had done the same thing and liked her as well.  We both signed up and are now in the same class together!  Although the 4 dogs that are there are not supposed to greet each other, it is still nice to have someone else there we know.  

The first session dealt with introductions, attention on you, watch me, food control {wait and take}, sit, and down.  Tara is all about using both verbal and hand commands, which I love.  Bella was so funny during class. She was either laying down and sleeping or sniffing the wall the whole time.  Darrell and I have done a good job teaching her sit, down, shake and stay at home.  Bella does pretty well with our commands, but tweaking them a bit and adjusting them to her technique will take a little bit of time. 

The two things I loved this week at our training were our emergency signal, which we are using a clicker, and food control.  Basically, it is a signal for if she is running off or if she is frightened, that will make her come to me and I can ask her to watch me.  If trained right, she won't even know that she is doing a command.  

After our class today, we went to the pet store to get her a new harness.  Bella also got her fancy new collar in the mail and is rocking out the adorable fuchsia, black and gray.  

Love it and HER! 
B