You're Not As Clean As You Think You Are

Isn't this the cutest little basset hound you've ever seen? Della is only 8 months old in this photo and she is even more precious and sweet than her picture. Don't you want to just lean in and let her cover your face with kisses?

Well go right ahead, but remember: chances are excellent she just "snacked" out of the kitty litter pan.

BATH DAY!!!!

I realize that my posts may give the impression of me being a strong and brave individual...and perhaps when it comes to certain things like stepping on spiders, mowing the lawn or running a rehearsal at the University I am those things. But when it comes to giving Buford and Della baths---FORGET IT! So this morning it was off to the vet where the experts were put to work.

The neat thing about Bath Day is the 4-5 hour block of quiet in my home once the pups have been dropped off. It is also a recovery period after driving the 4.5 miles to the vet's office with 2 basset hounds in a sports car while trying not to have an accident because Della wants to look outside MY window! And all this while trying to avoid getting sideswiped by crazy people who think they own the road during "school bus rush hour."

But the quiet time is short lived and soon it is time to pick the darling cherrubs up from their day of "pampering." All at once, out of the groomer's area come two exited pups running at full speed across the linoleum floor--quite a site as they skid on the slippery floor by the way! Both are all clean and shiny. Their coats all fluffed up. And best of all: nails are trimmed!!

And for the next 10 hours or so they both smell wonderful--not houndy or doggy, but clean and sweet.

....and then Buford finds some worms after the rain fall and simply HAS to roll in them! So my friends, remember when bathing bassets--enjoy it while it lasts. Thus endeth the lesson.

Oh! the Agony!

My poor little puppy Della!

Bassets, in general, usually face a painful part of life sometime before the age of 18 months. Their front legs become a little lame, one leg at a time. This actually has a name: Paneosteitis, or just plain "pano." It is a wandeing lameness which means that YOU, the mom- or dad-slave think you're going completely nuts! One day it's "Hey, the pup is holding her left leg up and won't put any weight on it." A few days later its, "Hey, the pup is still holding her right leg up, er, wasn't it her right leg? I could have sworn it was her right leg, but maybe it was her left leg?" At any rate, you get the idea--the pup is lame, in pain and you are going to sell your soul in order for her to be "healed!"

There was thought that Della was not going to experience this. She was already 10 months old and it still hadn't reared it's ugly hear. Well, just as one gets comfortable with that thought BAM! her left front leg is up in the air and she really doesn't want to touch the ground with it.

Having Buford still in the home and living through his pano days, as well as the king, the original, Walter (ATB) having gone through it, I instantly knew what was wrong. But still, any momslave worth her weight in bisquits has to get down on her hands and knees and make completely sure that her baby doesn't have a cut pad or a thorn or something else wrong with her paw that could cause her to favor it.

So that is what I did--I lowered myself to the ground to inspect the baby's left paw and like all puppies, she rotated directly under me! OK, WHAT IS UP WITH THE WORLD GOING INTO SLOW MOTION THE INSTANT SOMETHING DANGEROUS/TRAGIC IS ABOUT TO OCCUR?! As Della rotated I saw my knee coming in contact with he ankle joint and i did everything I possibly could to avoid contact but there was nothing to be done. Della's rear right leg got trapped under my knee with full body weight leaning on her!

Ok everyone, breathe! There was no crack or anythng like that, but she did jump away holding her rear right leg AND her front left leg in the air. In a little while she walked it off and everything seemed fine...or so I thought.

A couple of days later I called her to come into the kitchen and there was no movement. She couldn't stand up. I FREAKED!!! She finally stood and limped severly as she came over to me--everything from her butt to the ends of both rear paws was painful for her. So I called the vet, made an appointment for first thing in the moring, and put her in her crate in order to avoid any further damage....and my mind was reeling! "What if...this, that, and God forbid THAT!??"

Della's vet is GREAT! After pushing and pulling etc,. he was convinced she suffered from soft tissue bruising and from favoring the hurt leg (that I inflicted--terrible parent!) she caused inflamation in both hips and both knees.

So, Della is on 2 aspirins per day and if she is still exhibiting symptoms (limping, pain, etc.) on Monday we go back for X-Rays.

How is she doing? Well, she taught the kitchen towel a lesson this morning, chased Guinness up and down the stairs for about 30 minutes, had a play session with Buford, ate my best bra, systematically emptied the CLEAN laundry from the basket.....I think she's going to be JUST fine.

Tax Season--a whole new twist to the yearly event

I have never been one to be get my taxes organized, finished and filed any earlier than the beginning of April. There is no reason for this as I have all my documents in hand by the start of February. I even have a week off in the middle of March every year and I rarely take use it for a vacation away from home. To make matters worse, it's not like I do my own taxes--I have an accountant. All I need to do is gather all my papers and receipts, put it in a big envelope and mail it out to my accountant. But no, I wait until the beginning of April to do this, and that means that i get my stuff back from my accountant right before April 15th.

This year was no exception and I got my materials back from my accountant on April 13th.

So I signed the forms, put them in the envelopes, addressed them and even stamped them. Then I decided to leave Della out of her crate while I showered. After all, the envelopes were in the middle of the kitchen table. She's only 10 months old so there's no way she can get them off the table--she's too small.

All seemed pretty quiet when I emerged from the bathroom so I got dressed and headed downstairs. In the middle of the kitchen floor as the "pwecious little pwincess" with an envelope between her front paws. Her mouth was wrapped around one end of the envelope, her teeth were punched through, and there was already a torn off corner of the envelope lying on the floor next to her.

Della looked up at me with those big, beautiful, brown eyes, her mouth locked around my state tax return as if to say, "Look what I found mom? Aren't you proud?"

Good thing my accountant always sends a second copy for me to keep for my records.

%#@!%& Thunder Storm!

I love my dogs very much--I say this from the get go because right now I want to skin the puppy and mount her above the fireplace! (Ok, not really so don't call the humane society on me, alright?)

Della is really the sweetest little basset hound. She just turned 10-months old and while I know she's not done growing yet I am pretty sure she will remain a 40-ish pound petite pup. (40 lbs really is petite for a basset hound folks!) Della has been a little constipated today. I'm not sure why--maybe there was a constipation holiday on the calendar that I missed--regardless, she just didn't "unload" the usual 3-4 times today. (I'm not joking or exaggerating either.)

It has been raining VERY hard for the last 24 hours so that keeps the dogs to the backyard and not the usual walks--they don't want to go and thank God for that! So it's been in and out to the backyard all day long...and the yard has started to become a bit of a swamp this evening. (We passed muddy at around 4 PM.)

Well go ahead and guess when the pwecious pwincess FINALLY had to "go." RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A FREAKING THUNDERSTORM!!! Here's the play-by-play:

Della scratches my leg to go out. It's pouring...but we go out. She sniffs around--a good sign. She starts to "make the approach for a deposit" when BAMM! Thunder. She runs to the door and back inside the house. This entire sequence looped 4 times in the span of 35 minutes. By the time she finally was "successful" the carpeting in the family was covered with muddy footprints--both puppy and human!

...now re-read the post called "A Dyson and Hoover Steam Vac---it doesn't matter." I am NOT pleased!