tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19894616446682552572011-04-21T17:58:41.469-04:00My life with a 2-1/2 year old English Cream Golden Retriever puppy. She'll always be a puppy to me!Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.comBlogger291100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-11285763867896362012009-04-06T09:41:00.004-04:002009-04-06T09:58:59.767-04:00

This morning, after much coaxing, I was finally able to get Paloma to come inside our house. She was extremely skittish until I laid a large beach towel down like a welcome mat. She then strolled right in. She is doing great so far. She definitely sticks to my side and keeps away from Bailey, who will not stop projecting her "I am the alpha" role onto to Paloma. I can't get Paloma to eat a treat

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-90437888154521336812009-04-03T13:36:00.003-04:002009-04-03T14:04:40.389-04:00

I found out my rescue dog has a name. Paloma. Pretty sad that someone would name a dog and then abandon and abuse it, but I'll never understand some people. The good news is that Paloma is doing great. She went to the vet today for her checkup and shots. She does not have heart worms which is fantastic. Her teeth and gums look good. She got started on Interceptor today and is currently getting a

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-82587880328837950012009-04-01T13:07:00.006-04:002009-04-01T13:35:29.632-04:00

Yesterday (3/31/09) around lunchtime, I learned about a dog in a potentially abusive situation at an abandoned home. There was no possible way I could ignore this information, so a few hours later, I grabbed a bag of dog food, treats, a jug of water and a couple bowls. I headed over to the house to check it out myself. What I saw broke my heart. The cutest, sweetest dog was tied to a tree with

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-40755032152617416602009-03-18T15:31:00.008-04:002009-03-18T15:54:34.845-04:00

We had a snow day on March 1. This never happens where I live. Ever. It was Millie's first time seeing snow and she absolutely loved it. Bailey was less interested and found it a little inconvenient. But, we had a really fun day. I think you can tell by these pictures that Millie had the most fun of all!

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-16069772852647938012009-03-18T15:20:00.003-04:002009-03-18T15:30:34.168-04:00

Bailey made it through her surgery with no issues and 10 total tumors removed: 4 in her "bad" ear, 4 on her back and 2 on her bum. Yesterday she had all the staples and sutures removed and everything is healing just fine. We've added antibiotics and tagamet to her medicine regimen, so we are back up to lots of pills every day. Speaking of lots of pills...Bailey also just started holistic meds. My

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-66833999669410555982009-03-10T09:36:00.003-04:002009-03-10T09:46:52.262-04:00

We took Bailey to the vet yesterday to have a few of her tumors checked that were becoming N-A-S-T-Y. Her "bad" ear, once again, is wrought with multiple tumors that have recently ulcerated creating a horrible mess. She also has one on her...um...hiney that just recently ulcerated. We don't have to go into detail on why that is a problem. So, we were secretly hoping she would get a good enough

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-24030651234093742552009-03-10T09:28:00.001-04:002009-03-10T09:29:19.526-04:00

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-80661497782121012562009-02-06T08:49:00.001-05:002009-02-06T08:51:12.149-05:00

Yesterday must have just been a fluke...no more sick Bailey, she is back to her feisty self. Gonna keep an eye on her, but I think she was just trying to get some extra sympathy!

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-53830026706700584412009-02-05T17:35:00.002-05:002009-02-05T17:42:23.892-05:00

I'm having flashbacks to early December when Bailey was so sick from her chemo. She is not acting like herself today (aka not accepting treats, moping around) and at one point she got sick. Normally I would shrug this off. Dogs eat random things and get sick. Not a big deal. And, if she starts feeling better tonight/tomorrow, I will shrug it off. But, my vet warned me that the signs of cancer

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-25735714918672847482009-02-04T23:48:00.006-05:002009-02-05T00:17:14.520-05:00

Millie is almost famous! I submitted a photo of her to a contest on a dog shopping blog–barkability[dot]com–which called for photos of your dog's paws. Since we all know Millie is the muddiest of all, I thought they might enjoy some muddy paws, legs, face....  The contest is still underway (for a few more minutes tonight at least), but in an effort to promote entries, barkability posted her mug.

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-24129514447164640782009-02-02T10:51:00.005-05:002009-02-02T11:03:32.802-05:00

Last week, it was time to take Millie in for her annual shots, so I brought Bailey along as well to get her checked out too. She hadn't been back to the vet since our last chemo attempt in early December, so I wanted our doc to see how the tumors have progressed (we've lost count...25+). I wasn't sure what he would say, so I was a little anxious. He was actually very impressed. He told me he had

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-59480775130693175062009-01-09T15:32:00.019-05:002009-01-09T17:57:58.480-05:00

After Christmas, we were lucky enough to go to Highlands, N.C., with Brent's family for a mini-vacation in the mountains. We stay in a great house off Little Bear Pen Road (this is our second year in the same house), which is great on its own, but was made even greater when I learned one of my favorite authors, Pat Conroy, and his wife - also a great author - Cassandra King, spent a summer in it

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-42264310205227605132009-01-09T15:14:00.003-05:002009-01-09T15:17:27.806-05:00

I'm happy to report that just before Christmas, we decided to take Bailey off of chemo. Our goal at the onset was to help her get better without messing too much with her quality of life. We realized after just 3 treatments that she was unhappy, sickly, miserable and in pain. That was all the proof we needed. Within days, she showed significant improvements and today, I'm happy to report she is

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-19447821294575539712008-11-20T17:19:00.003-05:002008-11-20T17:30:44.286-05:00

Today marked the end of the first week of Bailey's chemo. We thought we were lucky and had made it through unscathed, but a late developing infection in her ear proved otherwise and has officially been blamed on the chemo. She spent the day at the vet to get treatment #2, but her CBC (Complete Blood Count) test showed she wasn't quite ready for it. Her white blood cell count was 4.6 (6.0 is low

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-90114390045888989522008-11-19T16:13:00.001-05:002008-11-19T16:54:03.947-05:00

We already know Millie is a digger and a chewer. I found her doing both outside this afternoon...the question was, what was she chewing on? Usually, it's just a stick or branch or root or clump of dirt. But after seeing some evidence... ...I was pretty sure she was not chewing on any form of tree or plant. So, the chase began of me trying to find out what she was eating...you can see how it ended

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-55503675325238641602008-11-19T16:09:00.000-05:002008-11-19T16:28:42.656-05:00

Had to share this cute pic of Bailey. Despite the cold weather, she and Millie love being outside. The knot on the side of her face is one of those mean mast cell tumors. But, she's still cute!

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-56446480180701445892008-11-19T13:00:00.000-05:002008-11-19T13:09:44.849-05:00

Today marks the end of week one with Bailey's first dose of chemo. So far, she has done great. We've  noticed nothing different about her at all. That's the good thing. The bad thing is that I found a new issue yesterday. I noticed when I was rubbing her ears that she yelped a little. I decided to take a look, since it was the infamous 3-surgeries ear, and I immediately saw the problem. It

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-34794764154000784392008-11-13T12:04:00.001-05:002008-11-13T13:55:14.311-05:00

I just got back from dropping Bailey off for her first chemo treatment, so today is "Day One" of her fight against the mast cell tumors (well, she's been fighting them with multiple surgeries already, so technically this is day one of her chemical warfare). She's already been taking prednisone for almost a month, which is just a steroid pill. The "cocktail" of prednisone with her chemo drug,

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-53752858620862529332008-11-07T17:26:00.000-05:002008-11-07T17:30:03.320-05:00

Poor Bailey had about 17 areas of staples on her body. She really did look like Frankenstein. All the staples were removed about a week before Halloween, so we didn't get the chance for it to double as her Halloween costume. 

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-59333675940887967132008-11-07T17:13:00.001-05:002008-11-07T17:26:05.490-05:00

Yoo-hoo!! Millie was in heaven. No worries, Brent had drained it before she got anything. We know, we know, dogs and chocolate never mix. 

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-29470805967265395382008-11-07T16:48:00.001-05:002008-11-07T17:12:38.082-05:00

OK, so I haven't been updating my blog. I have lots of excuses, but mostly now it's just the fact that I have so much to blog about with both dogs that the thought of sitting down to write it all out is feeling overwhelming. So, instead of going into lots of detail (as I'm well known to do), I'm eliminating my burden by simply making a list of all the things I woulda, coulda, shoulda blogged

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-79218002680132835962008-08-15T14:06:00.000-04:002008-08-15T14:20:02.221-04:00

Imagine my surprise as I am vacuuming my kitchen today when I looked up to see this....dripping, wet mud prints all over my floor. I'm just glad I hadn't gotten around to mopping yet (well, wasn't even planning to mop until...)Not sure why it even surprises me anymore. Notice the mud-stained towels drying in the background. We've gone through about 10 this week. Millie has more towels than Brent

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-40113834245181263102008-08-12T16:44:00.000-04:002008-08-12T17:32:24.074-04:00

OK, so I spoke too soon yesterday when I said that Millie was all grown up. She is in fact 10-months old on this date, but has managed more than once today to prove to me that she has not yet outgrown her puppy ways. Case-in-point #1: Still MuddyI took these pictures after the THIRD time I cleaned her up today from getting in the mud. The pictures do not do justice to the amount of mud caked onto

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-71866865716316952172008-08-11T13:31:00.000-04:002008-08-11T14:40:14.604-04:00

When we took Bailey in for her annual shots last month, our vet told us many things we already knew. The main thing was that the tumor he removed just last year from the inside flap of her ear (which tested positive for cancer at the time-but no spreading) had returned...three times the size. For us, there was no question on whether or not it had to come off again. Mainly because, well, let's

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-64386398549844355822008-08-11T13:11:00.000-04:002008-08-11T13:27:43.175-04:00

Last week, while Millie was taking a break from chasing birds, terrorizing Bailey and digging holes in my backyard, I thought she looked really cute guarding her coveted cupcake toy (like she ever doesn't look cute to me), so I took her picture. When I was loading the photos into my computer, I couldn't help but notice I had taken a similar picture in the same spot back in January, about seven

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-11783636777036089822008-05-22T10:51:00.000-04:002008-05-23T12:05:06.200-04:00

I've learned to pick and choose my battles with Millie. Shoes, clothes, work papers and human food are all off limits (well, except for an occasional scoop of low-fat peanut butter to get her to eat her heartworm pill). But, everything can't be no. So, if she gets her hands on an empty box every now and then, I've decided to be OK with that. One of her favorite things to shred is empty cases of

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-43296501397340853992008-05-22T10:19:00.000-04:002008-05-22T10:50:41.502-04:00

Being the co-parent of a Basset Hound for the past 11+ years, water has strictly been something Bailey uses to quench her thirst. When she hears the tub water running or sees a hose coming near her, she promptly runs, er waddles, to the nearest, hardest-to-reach corner and huddles down in hopes you won't be able to pick up her dead weight. Fortunately, her mind can easily be changed with a short

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-35723742568648434382008-05-13T10:12:00.000-04:002008-05-13T10:20:18.011-04:00

This was several months ago during a particularly rainy week. All the objects in my yard could not cover the many mud puddle opportunities. I don't think additional words are needed. 

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989461644668255257.post-15416449662095039592008-05-13T09:44:00.000-04:002008-05-13T10:08:02.938-04:00

I should have started this blog about six months ago when we first brought Millie home as an 11-week-old puppy. She has changed so much since then, as all puppies do, but I had to start somewhere, so I'm starting with today. I'll backfill along the way with more photos and stories from her puppydom. Actually, I'll start with yesterday. One of Millie's favorite things to do is find any source of

Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13894844005457800046noreply@blogger.com0