Me...and my Shaaaaa-Doe...

My little angel is home again! It was so strange to not have her following me and being right next to me in whatever I might be doing at home. Chewie was so happy to see me. Her little face lit up and her tail started to wag as she fought to jump out of the arms of the technician. All I could think of is to scoop her up and hold her tight...My little Princess. Dr. Waugh kept me updated at least daily and told me that Chewie was pretty upset with her for not feeding her...(she had to have an IV for fluids so as not to further irritate the esphogus area.) Poor baby gets to live on gruel for three weeks. No solid food. She also has four medications that she has to take for the 21 days of yuck. So that means things have to be much more disciplined around here for a while. I am nuerotically vigilent (much to Kalli's dismay) about trashcans floor level, food and eatingware left around at doggie dash height and no "treating" in front of Chewie. Meanie, I know. And to top it off...I gave Chewie more of a haircut to blend in her shaved front legs that were done for the IVs. She wasn't too happy but is now back in her spot close to me while I write.....All is Good with the World. How in the heck do people ever have kids? I'd be a nervous wreck. My hats off to all the human parents out there. Dogs are challenging enough for me. xoxo

Looking for the Rainbow

Yesterday was tough - even for a professionally positive cheerleader like myself. Dr. Waugh is the greatest! She scoped poor Chewie and found a bone that she could not pull out, so she had to push it into Chewie's stomach, hoping it will dissolve naturally. Now Chewie must be kept on fluids to help heal the esophagus, and she will have to have gruel for 3 weeks. This was the best possible outcome, really... and I'm lucky she is doing so well... and that I took her into Dr. Waugh. The weird thing is, I cannot figure out where she snatched that bone from? I mean, I know she was a stray and is always on the look-out for a snack to grab...but I tend to be a neurotic pet-parent...I even looked in our trash to find the pork bone from a couple of nights ago and found it still in the trash - whole... and D walked around the yard looking for evidence of "something"... so the mystery remains...

Lesson: No matter how long you have been with your companion, or how well you know your pet, you can never stop the vigilance for their safety and well-being.

It was weird not having Chewie around, particularly for our first time "outside" this morning. Miles sniffed around as I held Jack (Jack loves to go "visiting" at the speed of light so he goes out the side yard that is fully fenced.) While sitting there missing Chewie, I felt a drop of rain and noticed by checking the canal, that it had started to rain, even though the sun was still partially out... It triggered my normal response...to look into the darkest part of the sky for a rainbow.... Can you see it? It's there... Sometimes we just have to look harder...

The Things We Take For Granted...

Chewie has seemed a little quiet and "blue." She has not been her usual sweet affectionate self - almost as if she was taking a bit of a back seat to Jack - the big personality Pomeranian that tends to push himself into everyone's center of attention... And D and I have taken a couple of trips this month so I wondered if she was a bit pouty with me... But yesterday she was more subdued than ever and she acted uncomfortable and threw up...then she grabbed her treat last night and almost choked on it until I shoved my finger down her throat and she threw up again... So today we went to our Vet and I am trying to remain positive after witnessing "something" blocking her insides... Dr. Waugh is the best and took her right into do a endoscopy to see if the blockage is in her gut or in the lung or in the wall... It is just very "there" and looks almost like bone as it shows up very white on the xrays. Chewie was a stray wandering the streets of Indianapolis when I found her. She was in rough shape but her sweet spirit was evident and she has been my little angel ever since. I just know that the time she spent as a stray tends to still color her behavior as she is possessive of her food and tends to gulp it...so I'm sure that she must have gotten a hold of something that has her blocked up... and Dr. Waugh will be able to ease that out of her and she will come home tonight feeling much better!!

Lesson: Watch how much you try to swallow at once. Don't take on too much and overwhelm yourself...in life and in eating!

The other point that has me thrown off balance is that I know my man, Miles, is a very old dog with lots of problems but with a primarily loving personality...as long as you don't mess with him... I would be ready for something major to happen to him but not to Chewie.

Lesson: Don't take anyone or anything for granted. You never know what might come up unexpectedly.

You Know It's Love when You Get Matching T-Shirts

Did you and your sweetheart from high school ever get t-shirts of each other? Maybe that's way too old school. But cute... I just had to share about a big man that so many know and initially fear (especially if you have to work for him.) This big gruff guy has been putting up with my dogs and doggie life for over 10 years now and has been pretty good...but he never really could get too close to my dogs or the dogs his kids took in. I understand the allergy thing, but my two - Miles and Chewie - are hypo-allergetic types. I thought he just wasn't a dog-person..much as I doubted his eldest daughter was either..until she..well that's another story.


Get the big guy to give into his youngest daughter's begging for a Pomeranian puppy... have the daughter end up doing what most teenagers do with the dog they just had to have...and voila'. Doggie magic takes over.


So next time you think people or things can't change...think again...Pooch-Power

Welcome to Dogs.and.Life!!

Hello, Fellow Dog-Lover!

I just want to take this moment to introduce myself..My name is Janus Moncur and I am addicted to dogs. If you share my addiction or just like your pets and want to talk about them and share pictures and stories, please feel free. I will be sharing a lot of my own life lessons learned from my dogs and other animals that I've had the pleasure of hanging out with.

Just to let you know, I'm a big advocate of adopting shelter and rescue dogs. Many of these pets have been given up or rescued from places that could not or would not give them the proper loving care required. Shelter pets have gotten a bad rap as imperfect, badly behaving, troubled animals and I'm here to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. Some animals that end up in shelters and rescue groups are purebred animals that had to be given up for whatever reason.

And please don't get me wrong, I love all Dogs - including the purebreds. I just really, really want to help the dogs that we can save. I believe homeless dogs understand that we save them so they love us back even more.

So if you can remember to spread the word about how great shelter pets are, some homeless animal may just get a forever home because of it.

I thank you and my own rescued pets, Miles and Chewie, thank you, too.

A Great Big Thank You to Marcella. Most of the pictures you will see here were taken by the always wonderful and ever patient - Marcella M. Mirande-Ketcham of Wild Eyes Photography