Wordless Wednesday #346 - Pekinese cuddles

Wishes for Benji

Benjamin last night

We had to let our Benjamin Yorkie boy go last night! Our furry dog has gone to a better place! That we believe!

My Benji Boy, we are missing you so much! Even your embarrassing accidents, and running out of the door at the speed of light...

But you were not healthy and we could see you were struggling. You must have been 15 going on 120 already. Your legs were buckling under you. The vet says you had no more blood pressure. You were not eating, although you still did not say no to a morsel from our plates. You stopped drinking water. Maybe your bad teeth caught up with you? We don't know, but we could see all was not well anymore. You were sleeping most of the time! You were a bundle of hair with skin and protruding bones and lots of growths.

Dandy Dogs to the rescue

Banji

Our old Yorkie is living on borrowed time. He is 15 or 16 years, going on 105! He looks as cute as ever, but picking him up you can feel all the growths and moles on his body. We tried giving him away for free, but he is still with us!

Yorkie boy update

Our Benji boy is still with us! We got this new addition to the family when he was 7 or 8 years, which means that he is now 14 or 15 years old. That's a lot in dog years!

But the vet thinks he still has many more years to go! (Much to Hubby's disappointment, because he can be a handful!) He is worse than a toddler which made me try to give him away five years back, but here he is! He still loves going on walks with us.

He is now also covered in moles, which makes the doggy parlour owner reluctant to cut his hair shorter. That does not help with his appearance at all! Yorkies can look scruffy very quickly, especially since the other dog "grooms" him, and Yorkie boy loves "vacuuming" the floor for scraps! And the food scraps get stuck in his beard...

Last night we wanted to leave him at home when we went for our afternoon walk, but he was waiting at the gate as well. Because he is a boy, he marks every bush, tree and pole in the street! That slows us down quite a bit. We also have to pick him up when he gets tired. But for most we are very impressed with the way his short legs can still keep up with the pace!

The Vet reckon it is his bad teeth that infects his liver, and that's why we get the accidents in the house. (Large foul-smelling puddles!) The Vet proposes that we pull most of his teeth, and that could aid in clearing up the liver. 

It is going to cost me, but I am starting to save! Poor boy! 

What would you do? Spend the R3500 ($259.95)  on the vet's bill?

Donations are welcome! 

(hint-hint family?)

Children and their best friends, their pets - dealing with loss

Chase the Ball, By Kyle Logan


This is a Kickstarter project, but a really worthy project!

We have to help our children deal with the loss of their best friends, their pets! I do believe you can't shield your children from the loss, because they need to learn to deal with one of life's heartaches that we can't avoid! Most of the time we don't know how to do it. Little Miss got really upset when her silkworm moth died. I think we will have to keep our dogs alive forever (sic), because I can't imagine...

This project is the creation of a 6-minute movie which addresses the issue of losing a loved one, Chase the dog.

"Chase the Ball is a touching story about best friends; a tennis ball and his dog named Chase. Told from the tennis ball's perspective during the final day of Chase’s life, the tennis ball reminisces about their time together. Through these memories, we witness the formation of a life long bond not even death can break." 

Art by Juhmelly Calrson

To back this Kickstarter project, go here: Chase the Ball

Please share the project on social media if you are not able to contribute financially.
The share buttons are available on the Kickstarter page.

Wordless Wednesday #157 - A dog's life!

The toddler loves her dogs

No matter how much the dogs have brought havoc in our lives, and changed our thoughts on having pets... (I have blogged a number of times about the dogs as well!)

But the Toddler loves the dogs!
She loves playing with them. She shares her food with them! Even though we tell her not to!
She loves the dogs licking her hands! Even though we tell her not to allow it!
She loves cuddling them!
She is always willing to help with giving them their food!

Now, how can you not love a dog face like that?

In all fairness; the dogs have given us lots of opportunities to learn the Toddler about her behaviour towards living things. Through the dogs we are able to demonstrate respect for all creatures... We teach her compassion and empathy by treating the dogs well!

It needs a much longer post, but in the end I am glad we got the dogs!



Related posts:
Our furry dog - update
Worse than a toddler

Wordless Wednesday #46 - Anybody wants the phone?

The Dog

Dries found the dog cowering in the corner today with a big cat busy eating her food. Now we have to teach her how to chase cats as well… In her defense, Dries said that it was a cat much bigger than her!
We had to lower our high expectations of her in any case: Petite Peu (little bit), the dog, is definitely not a Miniature Pinscher. She got a lot of the Dachshund genetics as well. We were still hoping that she would suddenly turn into the Pinscher, but the ears never got pointy, and the legs are too short. She seems fully grown by now.
I am not pleased (to say the very least) that we had bought her at a pet shop as the real thing! She came with a very steep prize for a cross a well. Where do we report such a thing?
And now she is part of the household. She is a family member whom we love with all her quirks. She is also still very much a baby at five months old. Chewing and barking (very loud for such a small thing) and jumping up and down. But she is sweet as well. She sometimes turns her head, looking at you as if to say: “What are you on about?” (See photo)

We usually get her in to “vacuum” the floor, especially underneath Mieka’s chair. She loves sitting on us or underneath us when we are on the floor. She loves gardening, and we get lots of upturned plants in the garden and leaves in the garden. She loves carrying Mieka’s toys and socks around, and we find most of it buried in her basket in the house. Luckily, because she is so small, she doesn’t bite through the stuff that she is chewing on.
It was said to us that she is not very bright, because she peed in her own bed, but we think she knows what she is doing. She marked it once and for all… And she is the Queen, for goodness sake! She sees blankets and cushions on the floor as the ultimate in invitations for using the toilet…

Children and pets

Children and dogs are expensive. (Sic)
The dog turned out to be not a Miniature Pinscher, but a cross, most likely with a Dachshund. The vet confirmed Arnia’s suspicions on Friday. One of her friends told her that Miniature Pinchers have white triangles on their chests; they have pointy ears and brown faces. Our dog lacks all of these characteristics. But we still have to wait and see what she is going to look like. No wonder she was cheaper than expected at the pet shop. That was one of the factors that made us buy her, when we saw that she was R800, and not the expected over a R1000 as these types of dogs are advertised. Afterwards she costs us a pretty penny at the vet too and now she is too valuable (with regards to the money spent) not to invest in her. Petite Peu (little bit in French) is not so little, it seems, but she is still very cute, and very cheeky. When we want to discipline her, she barks at us. The little cheek of a thing!
Arnia had an accident with my laptop. She went to fetch it, and because I did not zip the bag, it fell out and off the stairs when Arnia picked it up. She had such a fright, and felt so miserable; she wanted to pay for fixing it. Yeah, right! Her pocket money is not going to cover it. It was my mistake in the first place, but it was really not a good thud to hear when it landed on the bottom of the stairs. Dries said that when he heard me scream, that he thought I could have been me going down the stairs with Mieka. Looking at the situation with that perspective, it could have been much worse!
Why do we have children and pets when we know they are going to cost us? Ouch!

Little bitty stories

Our little bit of a dog is still alive! Dries and Arnia are doing their fair share in looking after her. Dries go home during lunch-time to give her food. He said that he paid so much for her at the vet that he can’t afford her dying on us. Arnia feeds her, she sleeps in Arnia’s room at night, and Arnia also does most of the clean-ups when there is an accident in the house. Petite Peu is a very lucky dog! She has learnt to climb the stairs, but we have to rescue her, and bring her back down again.
On Friday evening she was gone after our guests left, and just when we were beginning to get frantic, one of our friends phoned and said she was with them. Apparently she climbed into one of their bags, and when they opened the bag, there she was, looking at them very innocently! She is also still very much a baby, chewing on everything, us included, and getting very excited when she hears her dog food bag being opened. To have a baby dog is very exhausting, and Dries said today we must get her sterilized as soon as possible. (Yeah! That’s what I was saying from the time we got the dog.) He concedes that having more of these babies would be too much – on our finances and our patience. Or is it peace?

"Little Bit" of luck

Petite Peu, our 7-week Miniature Pinscher, has pulled through. Arnia said the puppy was extremely glad to see them when they went to fetch her. I thought that she would have been traumatized at the vet, but it seems that she is a happy puppy again. Dries had to pay a large bill, but this time we can at least show a little bit of dog for it.
She was sleeping on Dries’ slippers last night (see photo), and it felt good to have her back after 5 days at the vet.

Déjà vu

How difficult can it be? We want a little dog!
We are going through the same trauma again of a few weeks back. Little Bit, our 6-week Miniature Pinscher we got on Sunday, is on a drip until Friday. Apparently it’s only worms, but she got dehydrated. I also think it is because she is of a highly sensitive breed. She is traumatized, and we are traumatized. Dries phoned the breeder, and she says all little dogs have got worms, but usually it is sorted within a week. She says that usually there’s a bit of stress with the change of scenery. But this dog stopped eating, and the stomach got upset. I can only imagine such a small dog stressing in new surroundings again, having to stay in a small cage. Arnia says she is shaking. The previous Scottish terrier puppy also had worms, and after that she caught cat flu. I am holding thumbs that we are not going the same route again. And in the meantime the cash register is rolling…

Petite Peu

We found our little Miniature Pinscher in a pet shop today. Because we were promised a dog of this breed, we got used to the idea. When we saw her in the pet shop, it did not take long for Arnia to convince Dries to buy it for us. Afterwards in the car he said he is now totally overpowered by females, and there is too much estrogen. He should have taken a male. Petite Peu (“little bit”) is very cute, and it looks as if she is going to be very cheeky. She and Mieka are both a bit apprehensive about each other. She starts shaking when Mieka screams (out of delight) at her. But when she barks, Mieka starts crying. It is going to be an interesting relationship…

Dog stories

I and Arnia lived without a dog for 10 years now. Following the X (cancelled one) we moved into a flat, and we could not accommodate a pet. Only a gold fish and a hamster could share our space. Two years ago we moved into a townhouse, and we decided this year to get a dog. Friends of us promised us a Scottish terrier, and we counted the weeks when we heard about the Scottie’s arrival. We had a name before we even had her. Lula was only with us for two weeks, but she stayed more at the vets than at the house. She first had worms, and then she got the dreaded cat flu. Her immune system was just not strong enough to survive the ordeal. Our finances also took a bad knock because of the whole episode. Following the bad news, I heard from a colleague at work that they had Miniature Pinschers who were just born. We again got excited about a puppy, and got a name for the dog, Petite Peu. But again, it was not meant to be. Yesterday the colleague told me that her daughter had already given away all the dogs! Utter disappointment. I really felt bad for the sake of my daughter. Maybe we are supposed to go and adopt a dog at the SPCA?

Arnia got the job of looking after Lula at night. She did an excellent job, but the intermittent sleep got to her. She asked me: “Do you feel like tossing Mieka out of the window at night?” I laughed, and told her it is a sure sign that she is not ready to have babies for quite a while…
Photo of Arnia with Lula