Wordless Wednesday

Rest in peace my beautiful Xena

Xena at the Inlet

My little Xena is not doing well at all.  Over the past couple of months we have had to make our morning walks shorter and shorter, but she still enjoys going to the inlet.  To make it easier for her, we drive down the street to the edge of the woods.  This way, she can still do the funnest part of the walk -- the woods and the inlet.

Here she is wading in a great big mud puddle.   Such fun for her.

Now she takes a rest and enjoys the scenery.

And the walkie wouldn't be complete without a few sips from the puddle.

Xena has not been eating very much and she still gets sick at least once a day.  We took her to a new vet who we liked very much, even though her prognosis was grim.  We are just trying to keep Xena comfortable and as happy as possible.

Xena goes to the groomer

Xena (the wonder dog) was getting scraggly (if that's even a word) and a wee bit stinky.  I felt the need to wash my hands after every petting session -- it was that bad.  Off to the groomer we went!

After a grueling grooming session, Xena rests in her favorite spot.  She sleeps a good 20 hours a day.  What a life, huh?

For those of you that remember how sick she was all winter, well, that continues.  None of the tests came back with definitive diagnoses.  None of the many medications from the vet did any good.  In an attempt to narrow down why the reasons for her illness (chronic throwing up), we took her off the food she had been on for the past 8 years and tried to switch to a super-hype-allergenic food.  The result?  She wouldn't even touch that stuff and then she wouldn't even eat her old food.

Now, I am a kitchen slave to Xena, Queen of Chugiak.  I basically cook whatever she will eat.  This includes chicken breasts, hamburger, brown rice, fish, steamed vegetables.  I try to have all on hand at any given time because I never know what she will want.

Yes, she is still throwing up ... often.  We try to feed her at least once in the middle of the night.  She seems to do much better when there is food in her tummy. 

It's been a rough 7 months, and we see no end in sight.  We are suffering from sleep deprivation and napping has become part of my routine.  Sigh.  Feels like I have a newborn baby on my hands, from what I hear.

We will get through this.

The Xena Report

Hi. Woof. Xena here. I've been under the weather for over a month now. But don't worry, mom and dad have the best doctor on my case and he's determined to figure out what's wrong with me.


I've been having, well, lots of tummy distress. I've been throwing up. A lot. Sometimes twice a day.

We first went to the bad place doctor in mid December. Mommy had to get me some Pepcid-AC. I think it's people medicine, but dogs can take it too. All I know about pills is that they always come wrapped in cheese. Yum, cheese.

That stuff worked for a couple of weeks and then I started getting sick again, even while on the medicine. We went back to the doctor on Christmas Eve and he gave us (well, the doctor never really GIVES us anything) some new medicine to take. That worked for a couple of weeks and then I starting getting sick AGAIN. This is especially troublesome when it happens in the middle of the night. Sorry mom and dad. I feel really bad about this, but it's not my fault.



Yesterday we went to the doctor yet again and got a new liquid medicine. Mommy said it smells like cake. If that's what cake tastes like, I sure don't know what all the fuss is about. We all hope that this new medicine works. Oh, and I'm still taking the other 2 medicines too! That's a lot of cheese.

One of the bad side effects of this sickness is that they've completely taken me off cookies. No cookies at all. Never. This is just cruel. My appetite is still strong and I need even MORE food since I've been losing it so frequently. This is not fair. The doctor said dog cookies are the equivalent (big word for a dog, huh?) of donuts for people. I disagree. Donuts are deep fried and greasy, from what I hear. Dog cookies are baked and very dry. Sheesh, will someone please talk to this so-called doctor?


Nobody is sure what caused this in the first place. One of the ideas is that when I lick my paws to get rid of the snow and ice, I've ingested (another big word) some road salt, which could cause this to happen. Now I have to wear these stupid little booties on my feet when we walk along the road. They make me look like an over-groomed poodle. Pffft. I wouldn't let anyone take my picture wearing those ridiculous things.

*All of these pictures are pretty old. I'm much more beautiful now.

Thanks for listening.
Love,
Xena

Xena's Holiday Spirit

Even Xena the wonder Bouvier gets to celebrate the holidays. We have a special collar for her that we put on her right after Thanksgiving. We switch back to her regular collar after the New Year.

I had to move some fur out of the way to get a good picture and I had to use the flash. Xena was quite upset when she saw that the flash had accentuated her gray hair. I told her "you're as young as you feel, girl friend".


I won't tell you how she responded.

Xena on Halloween

Xena (the cutest Bouvier in the world) has a hat she wears every Halloween. It's a witch hat that her Auntie Carol gave her. Id rather not think about why Auntie Carol thought Xena needed a witch hat.

Here, Rick helps Xena don her cute hat. It has a button that you can push to make the lights flash on and off randomly. Very festive.


Now, Xena looks up at Rick and says "what the #*%@ is this thing on my head????"



Lastly, she hangs her head in utter shame ... sigh




Here's this year's jack-o-lantern



All in all, we had a great night and even saw a few trick-or-treaters!

The Current Status of the Currants

The weather has been so beautiful that I decided to take advantage of the sun and get some pictures of the currants. They are coming along very nicely.


The berries are nice and red from all the warmth and sunshine. Now, a little rain will make them plenty juicy.

The high bush cranberries are quite a way behind the currants in ripeness. They are best when picked after the first frost. I hope that's far into the future.


I'll finish with a picture of the cutest furry face you will ever see ... XENA! She has an appointment at the Beauty Parlor later this week. She may feel the need to blog after the trauma of a bath and a haircut.


Speaking of baths, I bought this print yesterday from the featured seller, lulunjay, on etsy's front page. It looks like Xena was the model for this painting! The likeness is amazing.

Xena and a Stick

I may have mentioned in the past that Xena is quite a lazy dog and enjoys lots of sleep time every day. Well, I finally caught her doing something dog-like the other day. She was chewing on a stick!



And here, she makes it look fun.



Let's rip off some of the bark.



Distracted by a bird. Done with stick.



It's a dog's life.

Xena Speaks ... about the new haircut

Hi, Xena here.

Now that I'm over the initial embarrassment of my new haircut, I have to admit that it feels pretty good. You can see my pretty pink and brown collar now. That should help people figure out that I'm a girl. Can you imagine how it feels to be referred to as "he" by so many unobservant people? That was getting a little tiring. And it hurt my feelings. I feel very feminine and graceful.



I realize that I look pretty skinny now. This is working to my advantage -- in a big way. Mommy's been feeling badly about this and lucky for me, we recently received a huge box of extra special treats from The Baker's Dog. I love those little Pawcos (look like tacos) and those Beefy Boys are quite delicious too. My absolute favorites are the Nom-Nom Sandwich Cookies. Mommy says they look a little like Oreos. I don't know what Oreos are, but they're probably not as good as the Nom-Noms.






Thanks for stopping by!

XOXOXO,
Xena

Xena Gets a Haircut!

Yesterday was Xena's first trip to the groomer since last September. That's way too long for a Bouvier. She was quite adorable and cuddly with all that fur, but I love her naked too. If you promise not to laugh, I'll show you a picture. Please don't share it with any Bouviers, as this would embarrass her tremendously. She doesn't even look like part of the breed.

Now that I can see her face and her beautiful eyes, I have rediscovered how expressive her face can be.


(It was quite sunny yesterday when I took this photo, and I couldn't quite block all of the rays.)

Just as a reminder, this is what she looked like prior to the haircut:


She doesn't even look like the same dog, does she?

Update on the Xena Situation ...

The Xena Beast (aka Bouvier des Flanders) is still in dire need of a haircut and a bath. The weather has moderated a bit, so I have made an appointment at the groomer for next Tuesday. That's St. Patrick's Day, so I know she will have a green kerchief on when her grooming is complete.

She is so overgrown and shaggy that I've completely given up with the brushing I had been so diligent about. (Xena says "whew!")

I tried to get her to pose in front of this stake, but she wasn't about to be told where to sit. I love this stake. It was made by local artist and friend Cindy Shake. I have several of her pieces, but this is the only outdoor one. When Xena first saw this, she said "That fake dog will never catch that fake bone. Poor thing." I agreed. We are of one mind. It's a little scary, isn't it?

Stay tuned -- Xena just told me she wants to contribute to the blog again sometime soon.

Love of My Life

No, not Rick. I'm talking about Xena. She's my beautiful Bouvier. Xena is the perfect dog: undemanding, a little lazy, a little snuggly and very quiet. But best of all, she's positively adorable.

This first photo was taken shortly (2-3 weeks) after a trip to the groomer. She's at her cutest when her hair has started to grow back.

This next photo was taken in the middle of winter. She had been enjoying the fresh snowfall in the backyard when I called her to come back to the house. This is Xena saying "no, I'm not ready".


Recently, I took this photo of Xena in her usual position -- horizontal in one of her 3 beds. I love her to pieces.