Esther

I've had a request to put more pictures of Esther up on my blog. I love this picture. I don't know if anyone else will... but here you go.

We were in the backyard. The dogs were playing and Esther laid down to rest. I don't know if you're aware of this, but it's kinda hard to get a good picture of a black dog. I have some others that are better. But they were taken by a far better photographer and it will be a bit before i post them.

Esther has had an eventful summer. In July she woke me in a panic about 5:30am one Saturday morning. It was her normal "MOM! MOM! There's a thunderstorm coming!!!!" method of waking me - stomping on my chest and knocking books on my head. Except, we weren't supposed to have any storms. I checked out back. Checked out front. Suddenly Esther is going potty in the living room. I looked at her and told her she had just earned herself a trip to the vet. Yes, i did bring a sample with me. The urinalysis revealed two things. She had an infection and her specific gravity was very very low (10.05). In the words of the vet, "lower than i'd expect if her kidneys were failing". My thought, "that's good right? Because kidney failure is very very very bad." He then mentioned Cushings disease. Also not very good, but better than kidney failure. However, i had to put her on antibiotics to get rid of the infection before we could move forward with investigating what was causing the low specific gravity. Two and half weeks later i took another sample in to the vet. Specific gravity of 10.04 this time. Couple of blood tests later and Esther was cleared of Cushings. No Cushings for Esther. You go girl!

Then the vet recommended we check her for diabetes insipidus. This is not sugar diabetes, which is diabetes mellitus. What they both have in common is lots of drinking and lots of urinating. The test for diabetes insipidus is to treat it and see if intake and output drop off. Treatment for dogs is to give them a drop of medicine in one eye twice a day. The vet assured me that it's easy to give dogs eye drops. Yeah, right. All i could think is, you've not given eye drops to Esther. Of course, he's a vet with many years experience and an amazing ability with animals. Even my dog sitter laughed at the concept of giving eye drops to Esther. I'll spare you the details because this is getting long; i will say we made it through, but it was tough. I couldn't tell if the medicine made a difference, so i finally decided if I couldn't tell, then it wasn't a significant enough change to warrant continuing treating for it. I called the vet's office. I spoke with the receptionist and asked her to tell the vet there wasn't a significant change. That was a week ago Monday. I haven't heard from the vet. So i'd say she doesn't have diabetes insipidus either. Yea!!!

I know, you're all asking, so now what? Honestly, i have no idea. I suspect just watch her for any issues in that regard. In the meantime, i'm making sure she has enough water as well as potty breaks, of course.

Good Buddy!

Woohoo!!! Sunday night i clipped all of Buddy's front nails. It was a first for me. Clipping my dogs' nails makes me nervous, especially since Esther does not like her paws handled. But anyone who knows Buddy would laugh. He's the nicest dog. Everyone who has ever tried to clip his nails has been able to do it no problem. I was so excited that i finally did it.

Drum roll please...
Monday night i was so upset at the dogs because they chased Josiah, the cat, again! I ordered both dogs into the bedroom, told them to sit, and to stay. I left the bedroom to find Josiah and make sure he still had all his parts intact. He did. phew.

I turned around and there was Esther. Honestly, I'm not too surprised, she doesn't like to be left behind. Then I went back to the bedroom and there was Buddy sitting where i had left him, staying as i had asked him. I was ecstatic!

Ah some of the small things in life bring the biggest smiles.

Buddy, My Long-nosed Orange Dog

Four months after getting Esther, i was still visiting animal control looking for my missing cat, Rocky. I kept going past one of the kennels that had this adorable long-nosed orange dog in it. Every time i'd walk past his kennel i'd tell him he'd be adopted because he was soooo incredibly cute.

I was working third shift at the time and having a hard time with the whole wake-work cycle. One day i desperately had to get home to get some sleep because it was getting late, but i'd wanted to stop by animal control to check for Rocky. I thought, I'll just check online tonight. But i distinctly sensed the Lord directing me to go to animal control - right then. As the speaker this past Sunday at church said, you know when it's the Lord speaking. You can pray, fast, wait on the Lord, but it's not going to change. :-) So, off to animal control I went.

I walked in and saw the long-nosed orange dog on a leash. The leash was held by a woman. I said "oh he's adopted!!!" She and the officer assured me he hadn't been. She adopted him the day before, but then told her husband, who was out of town, and he put his foot down. Now Buddy was back at animal control. I agreed to take Buddy, she agreed to pay for his neutering.

I thought i was taking him to find him his "forever home". But two days later, I told a friend of mine that i had this dog i was fostering; showed her his picture and she said, "yep that's him". I said what do you mean? She said, God showed me you were going to have a second dog before he told you and that's him. I said, I knew i was getting a second dog, but God didn't show me what he looked like. "Well that's him", she proclaimed again.

It's been a very good thing that God was so clear about me taking Buddy. He was six months old when i got him and quite the chewer. He has gotten past that, although my house is still recovering. He's also had some medical issues that are ongoing and there are some days I just want to ask why. Ok, there are some days i do ask why. But then i remember, smile, and thank God Almighty for my long-nosed orange dog named Buddy.

Esther, the Wonder Dog

This is my first dog ever, ok, as an adult. We had one that i remember when i was a kid, but I have very few memories of her.

Back to Esther. I got her from the local animal control while i was going there looking for my run away cat, Rocky. I never got Rocky back, but came home instead with a 58 lb dog. She looked smaller in the kennel at animal control than she did in my living room.

She is definitely a mix or as i like to say "an unintentional designer dog". She has one blue eye and one brown eye, so most people say she is a husky mix. But I remind them that Australian Shepherds and Border Collies also can have mixed eye color. Yesterday I saw a French Bulldog with one blue and one brown eye. She has a bit of white on her neck, chest, belly, the tip of her tail and her toes. She also has black spots on her toes and a bit of dark brown on one of her legs and one of her flanks. I can only see it in the sun. Her fur is amazingly soft! I love petting her, which makes disciplining her difficult. She is incredibly smart too. All of this has lead me to believe that she is Lab , Australian Shepherd mix.

I have had her for 2 years and in December she will be 4 yrs old. She had heartworm when i got her so i had her treated. I'm glad i did. She is wonderful and has added sooooo much to my life.