Drummer's Corner of the World

The dangers of living with dogs...

I got ready to walk the boys before bedtime, which first required letting them out of their crates, where they'd eaten dinner.

Drummer was first up, and since he doesn't normally run laps around the room upon being sprung from his crate, I was less than normally careful.

This time, he opted to make a fast circuit of the room, including the bed, upon which resided the laptop.

It's hard to type on a laptop keyboard that's missing keys. Especially the O and P keys, which come up a lot.

Sigh.

F10, 8, the aforementioned o and p and the semi-colon are the full extent of the damage.

The F10 and 8 might be fixable, but I'm too sleepy to deal with them now. I'm fairly sure the others are toast, so I'll either be ordering replacement keys or a replacement keyboard in the morning.

I'm guessing my AppleCare contract doesn't cover acts of dog.

Next weekend, I'm meeting sweetmusic_27 at billroper and daisy_knotwise's to record fiddle tracks for "Dream of a Far Light". Drummer is going with me, partly 'cause he will enjoy the trip (and could use the socialization, since he suffers from a bad case of "second child syndrome") and partly to see if Gretchen is allergic to him, since they're considering adding a dog to the household at some point, and are looking for a breed that not only fits their lifestyle but doesn't trigger Gretchen's allergies. The original plan had been to take Chase, so now I'm taking Drummy instead. Of course, Chase was almost too good... he was sweet and calm and friendly and calm and outgoing and calm and, well, you get the picture. Drummer is sweet and friendly and loves people as long as he doesn't get swamped with too many new people at once, but the one thing he's never been described as is "calm." Thankfully, the Ropers have a big fenced back yard, so we'll practice Better Behavior Through Exhaustion while we're there. :-)

Of course, in the past, any time one dog went somewhere with me, that meant two dogs were left home w/ the petsitter, and they could keep each other company. That dynamic has changed now, and I hated the idea of leaving Thunder home alone, but now I have the perfect solution! The new owner of my favorite pet boutique does petsitting, and she'll also take a couple of dogs at a time to just go live at her house for the weekend. So Thunder is going to go home with Cristi on Friday, and hang out with Kaizen, her German Shepherd, then she'll bring him back to the store on Sunday and I'll pick him up there when we get back to town.

Yay! Drummer gets to go visiting with me, and Thunder gets to go sleep over with new friends, so everybody should have a great weekend.

And right now, both boys are over getting bathed and groomed, so I took advantage of the dog-free time to move the dog crates and do a thorough vacuuming of the house. Now it's time to make an omelette.

Chase is about the same today... he spent a lot of the day sleeping, but when he's been up and around, he's seemed fairly energetic and not stressed. I've done a ton of reading about myasthenia gravis and megaesophagus (and especially what's involved in helping a megaesophagus dog to thrive) and we're now on a quest for the perfect consistency of food. Apparently some dogs do well on (essentially) meatballs, popped in and gulped down, while others do best on anything from normal consistency canned food down to about milkshake consistency. The universal constant, though, is that the dog needs to be vertical while eating or drinking, and needs to be kept that way (think of a dog in a "sitting up and begging" position) for 15-20 minutes after each meal, and there should be four to six small meals a day. So far, Chase is tolerating me holding him upright, but as he gets his energy back that may come to an end. There are plans available for what is essentially a fitted doggy "high chair" and I'm going to check with a couple of my crafty friends (aka, those who have woodworking tools/skills) and see about making one for Chase. It would simplify the meal thing considerably!

Picked the RowdyBoys up from Caring Hands, where they'd spent the weekend. Drummer got his three-year rabies shot, and he and Thunder were both titered for distemper and parvo. Titer levels came back fine, so no need to vaccinate. Yay! Both were clear of any kind of parasites (worms, heartworms, fleas), and Thunder's ears (which I'd been treating for a yeast infection) were pronounced clean and clear. The kennel staff fell in love with Thunder. He's just so happy... and so easy-going. Poor Drummer, who's only been boarded one other time, apparently was pretty obsessive and spent most of his time pacing and worrying. They said he was _much_ better by the end of the weekend. Also, he was massively nervous when Dr. Roach did her exam... one of the techs ended up holding him in her arms like a baby and then he was fine. Apparently I need to get in the habit of swinging by the clinic with him so he can say "hi" to everyone and have a treat and get over being so nervous.

The cats were all happy to see me come home, and everybody seems healthy. Errand had the sniffles and a runny eye before I left, but he's all better now, which is good 'cause I soooooo can't afford any more vet bills right now!