Our Real Howl-o-ween

It's been a full day here. First there was the groomer, then we came home and as it turned out, there were costumes after all. Then lots and lots of trick or treaters. Oh, it's going to take a few days to rest up from this day.

That's me, Lola, being a fairy princess and/or butterfly. Not sure which.

The Devil Dog, Hound from Heck is sniffing my antennae!

Time for my best diva pose!

I really don't mind this. It gives them so much pleasure. Humans are easy to please.

Franklin actually seemed to enjoy the whole thing very much.

But when we went inside he just sort of collapsed.

I was ready for a nap myself, sans costume

Franklin would not take his off. I think he thought it was a pressie. He loves it!

I hope you all had a wonderful Howl-o-ween - or are still having one. The trick or treaters have wound down, we finally got Franklin's cape off and I think we're about done with the holiday here. Time to start thinking about dinner! 

Happy Halloween!

That's not us, of course. I think their names are Getty and Images

Happy Halloween to everydoggy and everykitty and everybuddy!  I hope we'll have a new photo of US up soon, but first we're off to the groomer. I KNOW! What kind of way is that to spend a holiday morning?  But that's what they tell us is going on. Then of course there'll be a lot of answering the door and giving treats to human puppies instead of to me and Franklin. This day is going to mess with my napping schedule something fierce, I tell you. Now I'm going to visit a few bloggy furiends and try to catch an early morning emergency nap so I'll be ready for all this.

Not Really Wordless Wednesday

I want to apologize for not getting around to many furiends yesterday and today so far. There were a lot of things here that required Blog Mom's immediate attention. We'll be working on getting everywhere just as soon as we can, but tonight looks a little iffy as things stand.

Abbey

We very much wanted to dedicate a post to our furiend, Abbey, a sweet Golden. I think most of you know her and know that she's been told she's starting a journey. That's the way she put it and it's a good way to put it, but it's hard not to be sad. She is very, very sick but is having a peaceful time of it so far, with her Mom and her best doggy friend in real life, Due by her side as much as possible. We want to wish her every happy moment and a peaceful journey. And of course, we want to send good thoughts and healing ones to her Mom, too. It's very hard on her, but for right now she's just thinking of Abbey and her well being. We just want them both to know that we're thinking of them as they go through this process.

Naps Have Been the High Point

There are quiet weekends and there are quiet weekends. This one is going too far. Yesterday everyone was out a little more than absolutely necessary in my opinion. Today everyone's home except for Alpha Mom who is at a horse clinic. But nothing interesting is going on anyway. Daddy's back is hurting and he's just lying there looking pained. Blog Mom is just doing some cleaning as other projects have been halted until Daddy's back improves. Franklin and I are napping. I hope everyone knows that I'll be wide awake tonight at about - oh, 3 AM or so...

Halloween Dog Parade

This is smile inducing stuff. It's the Halloween Dog Parade in Tompkins Square Park. Alpha Mom used to live right there, but a long time ago. I think it was about 87 years ago. Anyway, it was before they had this parade happening. In fact, as it's been explained to me city parks were mainly used for drug deals and homeless people back then. The photo above is a picture from a previous year. I couldn't find any from this year that were OK to post, but there's a great Flickr set with tons of photos. It's All Rights Reserved so I can't post it, but you can go see it Right Here.

Meantime, neither Franklin nor I have Halloween costumes. I don't mind so much for myself, but Franklin would look so natural in a vampire type cape.

I'm Fine and Thank You All

While you're up, get me a Bud?

I really didn't mean to raise concern for my immediate health, although your good thoughts and well wishes mean the world no matter what. I haven't been sickies in a while, but I do have to have my blood checked twice a year because of being on the medication. Now, this does worry the Moms a little, because if the day comes when my white cells or red cells or some cells or other aren't right then they'll want to take me off colchicine and that would be very bad indeed.  Anyhoo, we got the results of the blood tests already and they were all good. So, no worries for another half year. 

Now a few people asked about Shar Pei Fever which is really called Familial Shar Pei Fever, so I figure I should talk about it a little. Basically, it's a major occupational hazard of being a Shar Pei. It's congenital and I should never have been bred, but I was - before I moved here, of course. Responsible breeders are trying to breed it out, but an awful lot of breeders are not so very responsible.

Dr. Vidt, Shar Pei vet, does explain it very well. It's also called Swollen Hock Syndrome and it HURTS! When I've had an outbreak I get feverish, and have no appetite, I'm lethargic and I hold my back leg up because it hurts. Hero has this, too, and has a picture of how we both look when it flares up. Some Pei go to the Rainbow Bridge way, way early because of this. Obviously neither Hero or I have done that.  The complications that could come later and result in kidney failure - well, none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. I pawsonally plan to be around until I'm 13 or 14 at least. Gotta think pawsitive.

I'm editing this post because I forgot to mention the most traumatic moment of the whole Vet experience. The doctor said I have cankles! I do not. I have a well turned ankle that I choose to decorate with attractive folds is all.  

The Vet!

Well, that was my big excitement for the weekend. I went to the V.E.T.! Here's the thing - my Vet life is a little complicated. Since I displayed a touch of Shar Pei fever last year Alpha Mom found me an internist who knows all about that and she prescribes my colchicine. That Vet doesn't do routine things, though, and also, so far Franklin hasn't shown any signs of Shar Pei fever, so we need a regular vet; one that doesn't mind that I go to a specialist if I really get sick. Hoo boy. So, we went to PetSmart's vet for shots and things and I go to my special doctor for my medication. She's a lovely person and she thinks I'm wonderful. That doesn't mean I like going there, though.

I think I should drive. I'd take us to a park or something instead of....

 

I think they're too busy to see me. Perhaps another time...Let's book!

 

 

 

Look, it's nothing pawsonal. It's lovely to see you, but I really can't stay.

 

The fact is, as nice as the Vet might be, sometimes you get left there. I hate that. I have abandoment issues. I try to deal with them with a certain composed dignity, but I still have them and this whole thing makes me a little nervous. Of course, when the Vet came in and told her assistant that I was the "sweetest Shar Pei" she'd ever meet, that did go some way toward softening me up. (She hasn't met absolutely any of the Pei in the blogiverse, of course.I know I'm not the only sweetie.)

That's my Vet, in red. She's hardly more than a puppy, but she's smart.

Of course, after all that sweet talk and petting and ear scritching, they still stole some of my blood. AND, didn't give it back! They said they had to see if the colchicine was hurting me and they could tell by my blood. We won't get those results for a few days. We're not too worried because they said I'd have some symptoms if my blood count was bad and I don't. But what if it was? It would literally be a matter of "can't live with it, can't live without it", at least in the long run. I hope you had something better to do with your Saturday than this!

New Friends

I've been meaning to post about this for a while. Now seems like as good a time as any to think about a happy thing, along with keeping the sad things in mind. If you know what I mean. I few weeks ago, Blog Mom was on Facebook. ( She still won't let  me have an account.) She was reading the Sean Casey Animal Rescue page, which is my alma mater, as you may know. Well, there was another blogging doggy from Sean Casey so of course, I had to go visit her blog. She's a very cool black Boxer mix - with a little Shar Pei! Her name is Lucca and her blog is called Lucca and the Incredible Case of Awesomeness. She doesn't blog every day. Well, neither do I, lately. But if you have time go by and say hi to her. She doesn't bite. (That's a doggy related joke.)

Now, today, we got our 100th follower. I guess that's a milestone of sorts. He's a Bichon Frise and his name is Chester and I bet some of you have met him already. His blog, Pooch Tales,  is quite new and he's going about making new furiends. It turns out I have a number of things in common with Chester as well. He has a younger sibling and has had to make adjustments. He's also a rescue as are lots and lots of us. And he's a serous cheesehound. If you haven't had the pleasure as yet, by all means go meet him, too.

Thinking of Wilf

It's hard to think about anything else tonight. This blog was only a month or so old  when one of  our new blogging friends posted about a dog named  Digby being very, very sick and asking that everdoggy go over and leave some words of support. Well, we didn't know Digby or his older brother Wilf, but it seemed like an easy enough thing to do. It was impossible not to fall in love with Digby as soon as we saw his photo.  He hung on and fought hard for a while and there were even times of hope, but in the end he succumbed to illness. Hearts broke all across the world when that happened. We all felt  for Angus and the font most of all. And now, just a few short months later,  Wilf is in his final days - hours - according to his Vet. Life certainly doesn't make any claims about being fair, but it just seems so extra wrong for Wilf to be taken from his family when they've just said good-bye to his little brother. Our thoughts are with them all tonight.

Our First Fight

I have to tell you, it's been a difficult evening around here. I've had to yell at Franklin from time to time. His reaction is usually perfectly satisfactory, in that he either stops doing whatever it is I don't want him to do, or if, for instance, a chewy is in dispute, he might run and hide under the chair with it. Either way, I'm the undisputed boss of him and it's all good. Tonight he yelled right back. What's more, there seems to be an idea that I bear some responsibililty for the incident in question. That's an unaccustomed and unwelcome feeling, let me tell you.  Now in general, I love Franklin. Having a little brother is overall a wonderful thing. But he does cramp my preferred dining style, which I believe is at the root of the whole thing.

I've mentioned that I'm a picky eater. Also a moody eater. And, some of the time I prefer to dine at a fashionably late hour. I usually eat with Blog Mom and Daddy. Alpha Mom is not often home at dinner time and doesn't cook at home much either. BF (before Franklin) Blog Mom or Daddy would put down whatever they hoped I'd decide to eat and then I would eat, or I'd tell them to leave it there and I'd get back to it when the mood struck me. I'd have dinner any time between 6 and 11 PM, strictly according to my own appetite and mood. Since the acquisition of a little brother, it's a whole different story. Dinner is served and if it's not eaten it's picked up, because otherwise Franklin will, of course, eat it. I have to admit I'd do the same in his place if I was in an eating sort of mood. If I've refused to eat all evening, I do get another shot when Alpha Mom and I head upstairs at night. Most usually I eat then, but not always. For the last couple of days I have not been in an eating mood at all. So, I suppose by dinner time tonight I was a little hungrier than usual.

 Saturday is hamburger night. I get some burger. Franklin does not because it hasn't agreed with him. He gets dog food. Usually, when I do dine at the same time as Franklin, either he finishes his food first or at about the same time as me, Lola. Tonight I went at dinner with a little extra  gusto or something because I was finished way before Franklin, and I guess that hunger strike I had been on came back to haunt me, because I was still hungry. And Franklin was still eating. So I decided I wanted his food. And he wouldn't let me have it! So, I got a little sharp with him. And he got quite sharp right back. That had never happened before. Not only that, Blog Mom told me I should stop. She said, "No, Lola.". I'm not used to that kind of language from her, either. The whole ugly episode has left us a bit on edge, I think. Oh, I did stop when Blog Mom told me to, and eventually  I did get some more food. She waited a while. Said she didn't want me to think that bad behavior was being rewarded. Bad behavior? Moi?

The rest of the evening passed pretty peacefully, but I think the whole thing was just a bit traumatic for all of us. I hope that we can all put it completely behind us now. Tomorrow we're getting baths at the groomer and I have found I much prefer to have Franklin along. It's always nice to be with pack and partial pack is better than none.

Wordless Wednesday - Franklin Edition

Awards Round-Up

We are very late with acknowledging some awards we've gotten. So late, in fact, that we're not sure we've got them all. As always, it's Blog Mom's fault. We did want to get this week started off right and try to get caught up with that.

We were given the Versatile Blogger award by Sam and also by George a shamefully long time ago.

Thank you so much, Sam and George. I may or  may not be versatile, but timely is clearly not among my attrtibutes.(Not my fault.)

A teeny more recently - this one is only inexcusably late on this, rather than unconscionably so  - I received these lovely awards from Hero (you have to see the artistic way he did that post if you haven't). Zelle also passed these to me, and was the first so far to include Franklin. He wants to send a big wet snuffle and snuggle  to Zelle for that. I also received these from K-9 Katastrophe. I want to thank each of you for including us. It makes me  feel warm and even fuzzier all over, even if I'm just awfully late in posting them.

 And if that wasn't enough, those wonderful folks at K-9 Katastrophe gave us the Doggie Bloggie Award, too! That works out especially well what with this being a Doggie Blog and all. Thank you, Ruthie!

Of course, there are rules to all awards and I guess I tend to break those. No longer able to pick out just five or 10 or even 15 blogs to award, I want to share these with everyone that we follow or visit with, here or on their blogs. That's because they're all great blogs, I am grateful for everydog's friendship and I think our furiends have some of the best Doggie Blogs anywhere - even in the cases where the furiend in question is a kitty.

Then comes the part where I'm supposed to  list a given number of things about me, Lola. I love that part, but I can't do it tonight. It's late and it's almost time for lights and good night and I wanted to get this up and thank the givers before another dog year passes us by. I think you all know just about everything there is to know about me anyway and if anything really interesting happens I come skittering over as fast as I can to post about it.

I want to apologize because I wasn't able to visit a whole lot of blogs in the last couple of days. Blog Mom kept going places instead of being here to work the computer for me. I know I've missed some important things and will be trying hard to catch up in the next couple of day