Puppy Meds

I thought I'd give a little update on our puppy. (You can click on the photos for larger versions.)


Our little Cairn Terrier has been so entertaining. She truly is becoming a little ball of mischief, independence, and fun. I feel we would be so boring without her. She has this adorable habit of cocking her head to the side when you talk to her. Something like this:

How can you resist this face?

A couple weeks ago, we finished puppy school. We signed up for an entry puppy class at the local Petco. I wanted to jump start training her, so I figured we'd give it a shot. I had received a book on training a dog from some friends, and that proved to have many helpful tips. But I wanted just a little more to get us going, so we signed up for six weeks of classes. They went well, and Josie learned something, for sure. My biggest problem with it, though, was I never felt she quite had time to "master" a command before we were moving on to even more commands. Ergo, the time to teach and work on the older commands got less and less as we learned more and more. We didn't decide to continue on with the next class, but I plan to keep working with her. Many of the techniques we were taught from Petco are the same methods the book suggests, so I still have something to refer to for ideas. Josie graduated from class with honors (but wouldn't hold still for her graduation photo haha.) 

Josie in her "Graduation Cap"

Two weeks ago we discovered Josie doesn't like the vacuum cleaner. She hid under the couch when he did the living room, which was a first for her. After running into the bedroom, she didn't realize Jarrod would be following with the vacuum. I checked by the windows, no dog. I looked under the bed, no dog. Then I happened to notice her, somehow, because she had climbed to the way back of my nightstand to get as far away as she could! It was hilarious, and this is the cute photo from it.

Escaping the evil vacuum.

One of her favorite things to do (when we're home and she's out of her crate) is lay in the sun.

But she's not such a fan of her sweater... Mom got her this sweater for Christmas, and though she was pretty tolerant of it for those first few weeks, any time we've tried since then, she hates it. Case and point: last Thursday's snow day. After determining she was hiding under the couch, I tried to coax her out. Once she finally came out from under the couch, she was naked. While under the couch, she had somehow wriggled out of her sweater and left it there. Goof.

About a month ago, we had her spayed. That went well, and she healed pretty okay except for a little bump along her incision. It became larger in the past few days, and another one popped out. So today I took her by the vet so they could have a look. It didn't look infected, but I figured since it had gotten worse we needed to check. The vet agreed with what I suspected: that it healed kind of goofy. She said what was going on was the internal suture knots should be fully dissolved by about this time, and clearly hers were going at a slower pace, hence the bumps out. They weren't painful, because Josie didn't even notice you pressing on them. She was concerned they might get worse, and also didn't want me to have to keep coming by, so she decided it best to snip out the suture knots. She would open up the little wounds and Josie wouldn't feel it. About ten minutes later, after she was done and Josie was glued back up, she said that she wasn't quite as successful as she'd hoped. The sutures were buried under scar tissue and actually some fluid and pus came out, so she thought it best to put Josie on some antibiotics. So Josie is on meds, just like me haha. It's a seven-day course, and should speed up this dissolving process and clear up or prevent any infection that may or may not be there. If things get worse or are not noticeably better by day seven, then I will have to call them back. Then there's a good chance she'll have to go back under anesthesia so she can snip the knots out. She said she sees this in about 1 in 50 dogs, where these suture knots just don't dissolve like normal. She said she'd make a note in her chart, if she ever needs any future surgeries, that we had these issues.

I would like to say right now that I really love the vet we have. Colleen suggested the Franklin County Animal Medical Center, and I've been extremely happy. We have been seeing Dr. Kim Post, primarily, and she has a great bedside manner, if you will. She is wonderful at explaining things, never makes you feel silly for asking questions, and is just a very zen, calm person in general. She's great. So let's hope these meds do the trick and little Jose gets better!

Back to Gym Class

I hated gym class in school. Not only because it just wasn't what I was into, but because I sucked at it. But the one thing I used to be decent at, if there was one part at all, was the stretches you did to warm up. And the only reason that was true was because of dance.

Well... in an attempt to vary my daily exercising a little, instead of going downstairs and doing the elliptical, I decided to do some old, grade school stretches.

Let me tell ya, I am beat. Have you tried to do any of those things lately? Holy cow! It is so much harder than I remember.

I did 20 jumping jacks (fine), then some arm circles (easy), then some leg stretches (definately not as flexible as I used to be), a few other stretches, then tried 10 crunches (wow...), and then I tried 10 push ups (insane). The crunches were darn near impossible. And the push ups, I didn't really even come close to the ground, so maybe I pushed myself up a difference of one inch. Heck, I don't know. But it wasn't much.

Wow... I almost feel light-headed from this stuff. I mean, these measly little stretches we used to laugh at in gym class totally kicked my butt!

Lenten Resolutions

Well, today is the first day of Lent. I have been agonizing over what my Lenten plans should be, because I always have a hard time coming up with something. I can't give something up, or my weight will suffer. I've done it in the past, giving up soda for one, and I ended up dropping a few pounds. I know, it probably sounds awesome to be able to do that, but it is not good for me at all. I have to keep my weight up to stay healthy. I definitely notice a difference when my weight is down, it is much more difficult to get around.

Anyways, giving up something is "easy" if you ask me, because it's very cut and dry. But this morning I decided on two things that will strengthen me both physically and spiritually.

The first one is I will read the bible every day. Even if it's just a short passage, it's something. Like most things, I've found that once you start it is easy to keep going, but you have to pick up the book first. I have this daily bible reading plan from a friend that I've had for years now, so I think I will probably use that as a good starting point.

The second thing is I will exercise every day. I've been doing much better lately, doing something ALMOST daily. But I'm going to discipline myself and do something daily. This one is going to be tough, since sometimes there are busy days that don't allow much time for this (or so it seems.) I think I was scared to commit to this one, but this morning Jarrod prompted me that it's what I should do. And it is, I know it, but this is big, we're talking lifestyle change. I can't skip a day, not one! (I know Sundays aren't technically part of Lent, but I think that's a cop out to allow yourself a break on Sundays.) So if it's bed time, hypothetically, and I haven't exercised that day I can't let myself go to bed! This will be a complete new way of thinking. I'm hesitant, but I hope it'll become easier and by almost routine by the end of it. Don't they say it takes 6 weeks to form a new habit and 2 to break it? Well, this will be six weeks... and it's going to be tough...

But that's the point. Lent is supposed to be hard; a small sacrifice. And when I think of the pain and suffering that Jesus went through for my sins, what I'm doing pales in comparison. But it's still a sacrifice, and it will be good for me. Lent is supposed to be a great time to learn, a great time to strengthen yourself, a great time to grow closer to God. By taking care of myself I can have better relationships with those around me, and by having those I can experience God's love. By reading the bible daily, I can further deepen my faith and enrich my personal relationship with God.

I don't believe in New Year's resolutions, but I very much believe in Lenten resolutions. I am much more likely to succeed by offering it up as a sacrifice to God.