Oh, the Joys of Having Large Dogs

Well, here is my latest wound. The girls, Jazzy and I were catching fire flies in the dog park with some other kids. I had just latched Jaz back to her leash so we could go home when I stopped to talk to another mom. Unbeknownst to me, another dog and owner were approaching the dog park. Jazzy noticed though, and off she went, spinning me in a circle and about knocking me off of my feet. I was totally caught off guard and very unnerved. I felt like it was a miracle I hadn't broken my back or neck. I was worried I had really hurt myself. Ugh. After pausing for a minute to make sure I could still stand, I got the girls together and got out of there. I, of course, had to carry Julsie and she, of course, had to wriggle around in my arms complaining of a shoe problem. First, I stopped to fix it. Next, I just took them off. Still, the screaming wouldn't stop. I got inside, threw everyone in bed immediately (still screaming) and jumped in myself. After all of the chaos, John woke up, consoled Nat and got me some ibuprofen. When I woke up in the morning, I was pleasantly surprised with only sore shoulders and minor back pain. Once I sat down, I noticed THIS lovely calling card. This was done by the leash, through a big pair of John's sweatpants. Can you imagine if this had been my bare leg? Oh yeah, that's right, I can. I had one of these on my opposite leg (bare skin) two years ago from Si. I've got to learn to let go of the leash, 'eh?

Black Lab, Black-top

I've been avoiding this post....

Jazzy got hit by a car. I know. I know. Let the criticism roll. "What" "How could you!" "Didn't your other..."
I know!

I am telling you. We are NOT terrible owners! I swear.


Instead of leaving Jazzy in Harrisburg with friends, or at home with Nana and Pop-pop, we took her with us to the SRU show. She hung out in the large, capped bed of our truck with her fluffy bed. During the break between pre-judging and the night show, John parked at the end of a long empty parking lot, beside a pond. He took out a ball and threw it for her to run her a little. (I stayed in the truck, out of the damp weather, and did Sudoku).


I heard a short, high-pitched noise. I thought it was Jaz and John at the back of the truck. When I didn't hear any corresponding opening of the tailgate, I looked up. Jazzy was sitting alone by the pond and John was about 20 yards ahead of her. A silver car pulled up to John and stopped to talk to him. ... I thought maybe John knew the person but John looked up at me, he gave me a "look." I knew something was wrong. I put my head down, trying to avoid the situation - whatever it was - and continued Sudoku.


When John and Jazzy came to the truck he informed me she had been hit by that silver car. The short high-pitched noise I had heard was the car's brakes. Ugh. John had checked the road, hadn't seen any cars, commanded Jaz to sit, and crossed into the parking lot to a garbage can about 15 ft away from her. In that time, the car had come down the lot and Jaz stepped right out in from of it.


We immediately brought her into the cap, checked her out and headed to the store. John was going to go to the grocery store, but I said "NO!! Pull into Rite Aid... I have a gift card." We got saline wash, gauze, tape, and neosporin.... $20 worth of stuff and we paid $0.00 out of pocket! Impressive, I know!

Ok, so back to Jaz. She was still able to walk around well, but was shaken. Her leg was scraped up on the right side, but her left side really suffered some damage. There was a clean, scalpel-like cut from her "ankle" to her "knee." Luckily no muscle or tendon was damaged and there wasn't much blood. It was just her skin..... but it totally looked like it looks when you are skinning deer. Gross. We could have put our fingers inside her skin and wrapped them around her whole internal leg.

Anyway... John took her to the vet when he got back home and they gave her stitches. The vet complimented our emergency wound care and Jaz is doing great. Yesterday John and I removed her stitches without incident.

I have been dreading this confession, but there it is.

Pick a Name, Any Name

A few months ago, Nat decided to give Jazzy a nickname. Apparently, Jaz and Jazzy are not nickname-y enough. Nat's first nickname for Jaz was "Tudor." That name stuck for a little while until I think she got mad at Jaz. Then we went back to Jazzy. Later we got Ariel and then Buddy. Two weeks ago was Bones and then she said to me, "I don't think I want to call my dog Bones anymore." "You don't?" I said, "what would you like to call her." In a very sweet, low, slow and serious voice, she said "I have a name for a big dog that I love, and that's Tudor." "Okay then," I said, "we can call her Tudor."

Today I noticed we were back to Buddy. Jaz was in the girls' room and Nat shouted, "Out Buddy out!" After screaming for a while and no reaction from Jaz, Natalie said, "I don't think she knows her name is Buddy."

12/20: We came home from our Christmas festivities with my in-laws and Nat called Jaz "Crumbs." Where she got that, I'll never know. It has stuck for a while now. I kind-a like it.

Why Me? Lucky Me? Shame on Me?

I don't know what to title this next post. All of the above fit.

I ran over to the neighbors' the other day to see if they would like to come over and play. Instead, we stayed at their house for about 1.5 hours. You see, she had a small crisis - her daughter spilled paint on the carpet.

Anyway, it was raining and cold and I only intended to invite them over and then come right back home.... Well, apparently, in my mad rush, I did not completely shut the front door. Oooops! - because when John came home from the gym, he found the door wide open. There was a clear hole dug in the mulch beside our front stoop and .... sure enough, there was mud all over the foyer and mud and mulch all through the living room. It appeared I had a slightly larger crisis happening with my carpet.

John was very calm about the whole situation. We were both amazed that Jazzy was still in the house! John said, "that's the difference between a male dog and a female dog." "That's the difference between a dead dog and a live dog," I said. (Si would have been long gone... and we know the rest of that story.)

The pictures here are after I had cleaned up a majority of the mess. I had mopped the linoleum and John had picked up the big pieces of mulch. I feel very sorry for that huge mistake I made and very lucky that Jazzy is still with us .... and that she didn't harass anyone (that we know of.)

Random Ramblings

1. My name is Heather ..... and I'm addicted to cinnamon and sugar. I'm addicted to anything that tastes or merely smells like the stuff. My college roommates can attest to me eating an entire can of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls by myself ... for dinner (usually when I'd had a bad day, etc.) You know, the oooey gooey ones you bake yourself. (I love those exploding cardboard tubes too, by the way. The sound of that opening was like the sound of a popping champagne cork or fireworks or starting pistol... saying, lets get this party started!)


2. Nat has been a whiny cat lately, and she's started to back-talk. I think she thinks that she is being funny, but we're really not amused. So, John and I decided that the hammer is comin' down. I realize that it is 90% my fault and I need to fix it. We've already discussed it with her and told her things are going to be different. For starters (in addition to disciplining) from now on, Nat will have to nap every day while Jules does - not for a long time, but she has to rest. Next, no more late nights. To date, her bed time has always been a case of "give them an inch..." NO MORE! End of Story. (someone email me next week and see how we're doing, - if we still are a family of four, or if one of us has jumped ship or gone to the looney bin ... Hey, and no placing bets on who that will be, either.)


3. Jaz has a skin problem. She gets red patches on her stomach, scaly dandruff, and puss filled bumps. Sometimes she is even a little stinky. After some trials and tribulations (2 rounds of antibiotics from the vet, various skin washing routines with medicated shampoo, adding fish oils to her diet and making all of her meals out of people food (like burger and rice)) we think she has a food allergy. After changing to homemade food and adding oils, it seemed to get a lot better. This week, we went back to Iams and just kept the added oils to see if it was the food or if she just needed the oils .... and its coming back. Now I'm researching food allergens and natural dog foods. Ugh. But other than the flaky, rashy, pussy, sometimes stinky skin, she really is a very nice and very smart dog. I am really starting to like her.

Tagged by Chrissy

It took me a while to figure out what this was. On my friend Chrissy's blog, it "tagged" me. I am to take the fourth picture out of my fourth folder and post it. Here it is!


Phew! I could just see it being a really gross pic of me or something!

Jazzy and the Great Outdoors

Jazzy needs a little face time too.

Here she is fetching at Sugar Lake (by my parents' home)

The lane to Sugar Lake and my mom's cousins' boathouse

All these pics were taken by John. This is right up his alley.

Jasmine standing over Mr. Tudor's gravesite at my parents' home. We planted that tree for him.

John thinks Jazzy is getting more lovey. I don't know, I try not to get too close to her. However, tonight I was snuggling with the girls on the couch and when Julsie got up, Jaz (for the first time ever) put her front paws discreetly on the couch and put her head in my lap. =)

Update on Jazzy

Well, Jaz is pretty much house trained and we finally steam cleaned our carpets. (Although like many women, she has a weak bladder and can occasionally leak a drop or two when excited.)

She is doing much better with the kids (and vice versa.) While they each have their moments and Jaz can forget that Julsie is NOT a speed bump, they can finally sit together civilly. Let me tell you, I am relieved to have at least some of that stress fading. We still have to take the girls' toys away from Jaz, but she is getting much better at giving them up. She's not making us chase her, diving around after her like crazy people ... well, maybe that was just ME diving around like a crazy person.

Nat is like a mini dog whisperer. While she stills melts down at times, she can tell Jasmine to sit and to come.... and Jaz actually listens! Nat wants to pet her more and take care of her.... and sometimes she wants to shove her in her kennel and lock the door =) But overall they are doing much better.

Anyway, here are some sweet pics of them.

PS If you think that she is still a little puppy, think again. She's a stinkin' giant.

An Adventurous Ride Home

So, on May 15 we all hopped into the car and drove 1.5 hours to Three Springs, PA (in the middle of nowhere...and you know if I say that, it really is). About 2 miles away I started getting super cranky. It only got worse as we pulled into the place. We both will admit we were turned off by the whole "breeder scenario;" with lots of dogs with lots of puppies in large fenced kennels. It was hot and loud in the metal building and Julsie and I spent the next 1/2 hour waiting outside.
We finally are ready to take her home and John decides she will not fit into the small kennel we brought to hold her while in the car. [At this point, I already wanted nothing to do with her - still feeling like I was cheating on Si and dreading more responsibilities in my life.] Then John says, "you're going to have to hold her." "An hour and a half? " I say. Now, I don't know why I didn't offer to drive because right then and there I knew with everything in me, "She's going to pee on me. I know it. She's going to pee on me." ..... I was wrong.

She was super calm just lying in my arms for the first 45 minutes; just a little angel. She starts loosening up (I think) and starts exploring around the car. Next, she is almost frantically moving around the car. John mentions that she probably needs to pee and I say, "I just smelled her toot." "You did?" "I did." And then it happened, 1, 2, 3 small explosions directly in my lap ... all over my shirt, my pants, my seatbelt. John whips the car off the side of the road, comes to my door, gets her and takes her in the grass. Calmly, I get out, carefully take my shirt off, roll it in a ball and toss it over the side of the hill. On the side of the turnpike, in my bra and jeans, I begin to clean myself and my seat with my ever-present cache of baby wipes. When a passing truck stops to check on me, John realizes my state-of-attire and gives me his shirt. As we pull in to pay our toll with a shirt-less John, two babies in the back seat, me holding a loose puppy and the lovely aroma of baby wipes mingled with "eau d' doo-doo" we can only imagine the thoughts of the toll booth operator.

Meet Jasmine

Yes, we're crazy..... Well at least ONE of us is. Meet our newest addition: Jasmine. (Guess who named her.) We've had her for 10 days now and I'm finally getting around to blogging about her..... Let's just say I wasn't too thrilled about getting another dog. I mean, with two small children!?!? Think of the house training, poor Jules learning to walk with a puppy pouncing, and the inevitable swapping of toys (and hence spit) between the dog and children. Oh lordy, its enough to make me cringe. And it may be selfish, but I was getting used to not having to vaccum every day.

But I'll be honest, from our first date I knew he would always have a dog and we got Si 7 weeks after the wedding. It's been 6 months since he passed and despite my trying to put it off, Toby could just not wait any longer. Like everything else in his life, Tob has thoroughly researched this decision. He spent countless hours on the internet and phone with shelters, breeders, and foster owners. He researched breeds and lines; considered age, trainability, hunting potential and especially demeanor towards children. And what did he come up with as the best possible dog? A good ol' black laborador retriever with both American (for hunting) and English (for looks) blood lines.