Puppytime

[cleolinda]

So Shelby has made herself completely at home. She was a little uncertain when Mom and Sister Girl first brought her home, mostly because Sam wouldn't stop jumping around and sniffing at her, but quite honestly, I was surprised that that's all Sam did, because I had been a little worried about the Machismo of the Male Pom, myself. He actually seemed really excited and curious--as was Meko, insofar as she could smell or hear Shelby, because she is, as you will recall, mostly blind. Mom and George immediately went back out and bought Shelby some puppy-sized biscuits and a plush squeaky toy that has since been dubbed The Roo (quite sensibly, as it is, in fact, an orange kangaroo). While they were gone, Sister Girl (who selected the puppy's name) and I fed Shelby the puppy kibble they'd already brought home after the first trip, and Shelby tucked in like she'd never seen food before. She also found the dogs' water bowl by herself and started emptying it. She's a black and white terrier mix, with little pointy ears that kind of flop over a bit, and a long whippy tail. Her legs have a greyish look to them, like milk you've dipped too many Oreos in. (I'll put up some pictures as soon as Sister Girl downloads them from her camera.) She's already eight weeks old--when we got Lucky, he was only a few weeks old, since his mother accidentally got pregnant on her first heat and wasn't real into the whole mothering thing, so the breeders let us go ahead and take him home. This may be why he had such a deep attachment to us, now that I think about it. But he was basically an amoeba with fur at that point, black and white with long curly ears and a little snub nose that stretched out to an English cocker point as he got older. And it's funny, because when I look at Shelby now, she looks so much like Lucky did then. Except, you know, bigger. And a lot friskier--she's got a good bit of attitude, and is already standing up to Sam and trying to eat people's toes. Not to mention snacking on the spathiphyllum--no sooner have I wrestled a leaf out of her mouth than she's stretching back up like a grazing giraffe. She gallops around the house with that funny bouncy-uneven puppy gait, and the very first thing she did after she got over her initial shyness was to start exploring the kitchen, and no matter how many times we carried her back to the den, she would not be deterred. She also found one of the floor-to-ceiling windows in the den and started beating on it with her paw. And then she took a nap. And then she got up and did everything all over again.

We had already decided that when we got a new puppy, we'd get two, so they'd have each other to play with--Meko's diabetic and incontinent, as I've mentioned, and though Sam still has only two modes ("Frisk" and "Cuddle"), he's already nine years old. He can't play with Meko, so now he'll have puppies to play with, and years from now (I hope), the terriers will have each other and probably a younger set of puppies as well. The cirrrrrrcle of liiiiiiiife and all that. And Shelby has a brother we wanted to bring home (Sister Girl promptly named him Buster, then changed her mind to Scout), but the doctor ran "some quick tests" before letting them leave his office, and it turns out that Scout has... parvo. This is not good ("Canine parvovirus is a particularly deadly disease among young puppies, causing gastrointestinal tract damage and dehydration as well as a cardiac syndrome in very young pups"). So he's either not going to make it at all, or he's going to be very sick, although Mom reports that he looked fine when she held him, if a little more shy than Shelby. Which is to say that he wasn't allowed to come home--I assume the vet's quarantined him somewhere and is trying to get him better. And of course, I didn't even know this dog existed twenty-four hours ago, and now I'm worried sick about him.

Just a little linkspam:

Gay pop star's "coming out" causes stir in Mexico.

Topless wife photo ends man's pole protest.

Stargazers watch total lunar eclipse.

Dear Abby: Five-year-old already serial killer in the making.

Bio-artists bridge art-science divide: "Adam Zaretsky once spent 48 hours playing Engelbert Humperdincks's "Greatest Hits" to a dish of E.coli bacteria to determine whether vibrations or sounds influenced bacterial growth. Watching the bacteria's antibiotic production increase, Zaretsky decided that perhaps even cells were annoyed by constant subjection to 'loud, really awful lounge music.' "

entropy_and_me: "I've noticed from the icons in your comments that you have more than a few Doctor Who admirers (myself included). I don't know if you yourself are much into Doctor Who, but I saw this interesting article this morning that says that the BBC has contracted with Google to allow archival and special edition video clips to be placed on youtube.com. I suspect much rejoicing will be heard throughout the lands when this hits fandom."

Comments

[gabsy.livejournal.com]

I really hope Scout comes out of it okay.

[crimsnfirestorm.livejournal.com]

I'd be worried sick about the other puppy too =/ Hope he pulls through!
I lol'd at the "loud, really awful lounge music." And from the same article: "Educated Freak-Out" could be the name of my next [read:first] band.
And I'm sure you saw the "Swiss accidentally invade Liechtenstein" article. This also made me giggle a bit.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, now that they have names, they are Real Dogs (as opposed dogs that are only mostly real). Keep us updated on Scout.

[ricyos.livejournal.com]

A couple of my friends had a dog contract parvo not terribly long ago - an older dog than Scout, admittedly, but for Jojo they used, in addition to some medication supplied by the vet, some standard things you would do for a person with diarrhea - chicken soup, bread, things like that. They also gave her some L-Glutamine, which you can get in a powder. Here's some additional information on the stuff (http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/nmdrugprofiles/nutsupdrugs/lgl_0125.shtml) - I believe they mixed the powder like the container suggested and fed her the result. Jojo made a speedy and full recovery with this stuff, and depending on what your vet says it may be of some use for Scout as well.

awww... (plus geekdom)

[mustang-bex1126.livejournal.com]

Your mom and stepdad are so cute! LoL I have both lost a dog to parvo and had a dog sick with it recover. It sounds like it was caught early, and if Scout was healthy and strong otherwise, I think the odds will be much better.

Re: Misc Linkspam. Good for Christian Chavez, whoohoo eclipse, heehee boobies, lol@critical fungus, YAY Doctor Who & OMG serial killer and BAD therapist. The AMA has a policy against formally diagnosing sociopathic tendencies in children, but anyone with experience with children and mental illness would identify this as an urgent case! The condition is considered untreatable. (did well in applied forensic psych.)

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear: Shelby? We had a dog named Shelby on a trial run for a few days when I was five or six and we were dog-hunting after our first ran off. Shelby was part St. Bernard and part something scary and aggressive (really; I just can't remember what it was called), and she bit me on the forehead when I bent over to pet her. Fortunately, I suffered no lasting damage (not even a nifty scar! *woe*), but I have been wary of canines going by Shelby ever since. ;D

Best of luck to your puppies, though--poor ickle Scout.

[msilverstar]

yay for puppies!

[laughing-cities.livejournal.com]

aww it seems as if everyone is getting puppies this year! haha. We bought a yorkie [who I affectionately named Pippin heh] for my grandparents and might get another one for ourselves. My mom doesn't want me naming him Mufasa...
and I hope the other little guy gets better. =[ it so scary when something that small gets so sick.
that bioart link i found totally fascinating, especially considering i want to go into biology and diseases and such. you always have the most interesting linkspam. thanks! hehe. =]

[lilitou.livejournal.com]

If it's any consolation, when we first brought my Sammy (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilitou/348670378) home, she wasn't eating or drinking and it turned out she had parvo. She recovered fully and lived about 15 years. I hope Scout comes out of it okay, too.

[girlandetc.livejournal.com]

PUPPY! i'm dying to get another puppy - already! - and britten is only 7 months old!! i bet she is ADORABLE. and i hope the little boy is alright! sending good thoughts :)

also, i just wanted to say that i took a class w/ adam zaretsky (i go to RPI), and yes, he really is that crazy. nice, though.

[mokeyhokey.livejournal.com]

PUPPIES! I've had puppy fever for about a year now, so now I will live vicariously through your puppy posts. I hope Scout makes it through the parvo!

[opakele.livejournal.com]

I am looking forward to pictures. It made me happy just reading the puppy doings, though.

Hope Scout is okay, too.

[bardintraining.livejournal.com]

Hope Scout feels better, soon. (Scout is a girl's name in my head, though--I blame To Kill a Mockingbird.)

My uncle named the family dog Shelby after a woman at his workplace with big bazooms. Not what you'd call a classy guy, my uncle.

Do you know how big you expect the pups to get, eventually? Roughly? We got a mutt, only knowing the mother's breed to be half pitbull and half chocolate lab (oooh she was a sweetheart,) and no idea what the father was--dog started little, and got bigger than we expected, even though she's not huge. Medium-large, I guess. She also started out coal-black as a puppy and has since turned grey with reddish-brown spots along her back. *I* think she's fuzzy alien spawn that likes to eat socks.

Eeeeh good times. I still wish I had a cat, though.

[cran.livejournal.com]

My dog is named Scout, and he's a boy too, but he's named after the To Kill a Mockingbird character. I've always liked that book and the name. :)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Less than 30 lb, I think. (Can you tell I'm just now getting to catch up on comments?)

[bardintraining.livejournal.com]

(Can you tell I'm just now getting to catch up on comments?)

Aie. I'd aend you on a puppy-free cruise if I could. (Substitute dog-sitter included.)

[cindyg.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, Ms. Cleo, I do hope Scout comes out of it all right! My husband in his bachelor days, had a pup that made it through parvo, and lived to a ripe old age at that. Here's hoping Scout does the same...::sends well wishes to everyone in the house, canine and human::

[freyalorelei.livejournal.com]

...an orange kangaroo.

Hey, my dog has that exact same toy. Does it have a tan/cream belly and a pouch that you can put your finger all the way through?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

It does! The pups love it. : )

[nasus221.livejournal.com]

Yay new puppy! Sorry about the other one though, poor thing.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Aw, I hope you get to take Scout home. And of course can't wait for pictures.

When I am able to get a dog myself, I want a pom. They're one of my favorite kinds of dogs.

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

It's good that Scout is a cross-breed - they have hybrid vigour, apparently. My last dog had parvo when he was a few months old, and pulled through, though he was very sick. It's also good that Scout's at the vets, because they'll be able to put him on a drip - the main danger of parvo is the dehydration, I think. I hope he's ok.

[nohara-megami.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to hear about Scout. I have a long story (which is sad and far to long to type lol) about Parvo and how it affected our litter we had a few years ago, and even though we lost one, we had one who also had the disease but lived through it. He is now 6 or so years and very healthy as of today. I have no idea how many have lived through the disease, but I personally know it is possible. Still, I am sending good thoughts to you all^_^

And thank you for the Doctor Who info. I'm glad that BBC is smart when it comes to Youtube, not making them an enemy.

[maetang.livejournal.com]

I hope Scout will be OK, and will be going home with y'all soon.

[elisa0984.livejournal.com]

Our beagle had Parvo and she required really intense care. Feeding and hydration every hour or so so it's probably good that the vet caught it before you brought him home. Good luck to him.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

oh scout! ::gasps:: i work with a lot of dogs, and scout is in my thoughts. i hope he feels better soon.

hey, i know you have an embarrassment of linkspam riches, but when i saw this (http://cheesedip.com/2007/02/28/she_can_has_a_cheezburger.php) in my RSS feed i thought of you.

[songstressicons.livejournal.com]

We had a Scottie named Randy we got as a rescue when he was two. He had a bad skin condition and had almost died several times as a puppy, but the breeder worked very hard to pull him through. He was a nervous little thing and scratched constantly. I mean constantly. When we got our other Scotties later on I kept wondering why they didn't scratch at all. Anyway, we all loved Randy, who lived to be a ripe 12 years old and I hope Scout pulls through for you. :-)

[kelcea.livejournal.com]

Yay for new puppy! Hope Scout recovers with no ill effects.

(The scary five-year-old sounds like he has sociopathic tendencies. One indicator of sociopathy is torturing animals for fun in childhood. Ee.)

[duncanatrix.livejournal.com]

Parvo is a nasty, nasty disease. I lost an adorable little puppy to it several years ago and I really hope that Buster/Scout pulls through.

[deathwatchlove.livejournal.com]

Sorry if you've already seen this article, but I thought you (and some of your readers) would enjoy it:

Baby pandas put your baby to shame. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/magazine/04funnyhumor.t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)

[lauramcvey.livejournal.com]

Aww. Do we get pictures of Shelby?
Also- I know you mentioned not needing us to dig up linkspam for you, but this one's a follow-up to the whole Eng disaster: there's an interesting editorial about who the hell hired him in the first place, and his past exploits. Makes for interetsing, if not disturbing reading: http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=4264#more