"No Fun" zone

My latest foster "Kobe" is in a bad way. He has a VERY large mass under his chin and jaw and we've got all our fingers and paws crossed that it is an absess. I've been to the vet twice now in as many days and until we get some test results back we're no closer to finding out what's wrong with this sweet old boy.
Kobe is about ten years old which is a completely unacceptable age for a dog to find themselves homeless. He should be curled up right now with the family he's known all his life, secure in the knowledge that he's safe. Instead he is on his second foster home and feeling like death in a strange house with strange dogs, strange beds and unfamiliar routines. I picked Kobe up at the airport last Thursday night and promptly fell in love. This is a true gentleman of a dog! He is very sweet, loving and well mannered and has fit quite nicely into the house. Then, Tuesday after coming on a hike with me I noticed that he looked a bit "puffy" around his lymph node area and felt a hard, non-moving lump. I know enough about anatomy to know that, that is not a particularly good place to find a lump so I contacted Hug-a-bull's vet and made an apointment for him. The vet was quite concerned when we got him, he actually said the words "this has to come out, whatever it is we need to do surgery...invasive surgery." Then after sticking a needle in it for tests and finding some pus he backtracked and said that maybe it's an infection. Since then his lump has grown tenfold, it now spans almost the whole width of his jaw and is making it's way into his cheek. Last night once we got hom from the first vet visit he started showing the first signs of being uncomfortable. He was breathing in shallow puffs and didn't want to move any more than he had to. This morning he still seemed very uncomfortable so I took him back to the vet. I've now got a medicine cabinet full of doggy drugs for his pain and possible infection and we're waiting on the results of the tests to tell us where to go next. Having a sick dog is probably one of the most heartwrenching experiences. He is just so unhappy and there's nothing I can do to help him. I spent today, the first rainless day in a long time curled up on the floor with him scritching all his favourite places.


This is the face of an unhappy dog...

Pointless Fun

I've been doing a lot more shaping with my dogs (excluding Jazz, he's enjoying his retirement from new training) due to the new "dog nerd training challenge" blog that me and my two fellow dog nerds have started. It was just the inspiration I needed to get back into a regular training rhythm. I've now taught two totally pointless but rather difficult tricks to Cooper and 7 and we've have a lot of fun practicing every night.
7 has learned to blow bubbles with his nose in a bowl of water on cue...yeah, I know early on in this blog I mentioned trying to teach this to Cooper but that just never really worked out and now that I've got a new super operant puppy who has no problem shoving his schnoz into water...I just gave up and let the new guy have it.
Here is this little gem...

Meanwhile Cooper has been perfecting his "get in a suitcase and be adorable" trick. He jumps in to a suitcase with the lid closed and when I say "ready" he pokes his nose out of the lid...you know, 'cause it's adorable!

Winter Woes

7 is not what I would call a "hardy dog." I've recently had to buy him a set of PJ's just so he can sleep in his crate at night. I live in a basement suite and my bedroom can get quite cold at night. Recently I've been woken up in the middle of the night by a rattling noise beside my bed. Upon inspection I discovered that Seven (while not complaining) was shivering so hard he was rattling his crate bars. I bought him a nice fleecy sweater and packed his crate to bursting with soft, warm bedding.

Here is a vid of 7 checking out his new digs...