SharondaWoodfin.net

My New Friend Harvey

He may look innocent, but he's got sharp puppy teeth. He also seems to be teething, and thinks my chin makes an awesome chew toy. His non-fur parents are trying to train him, but Harvey and I, we think human chew toys are just A-OK!

Top 13 Reasons This is a List Post

1. I don't care what search engines think about placing posts into multiple categories.
2. I'm still streaming Xena.
3. I'm adapting my taiji routine to include my burglar beater (approximately 3' section of a young tree -- which had to be cut down because it was growing too close to the house -- complete with spikes where the tiny limbs were growing; too short to use as a bo staff, too long for a billy club, painful if you whack yourself with the spikes).
4. I'm a bit distracted by all of the Adam Lambert stuff. LOLed, literally, at the faux fellatio on the AMAs; put off a bit by the kiss, but only because it struck me as more aggressive than sexual. Noted that Adam was right about one thing: gender discrimination. CBS blurred the guy-on-guy kiss, this morning, but didn't blur the whole Madonna-Britney-Xtina thing. (PS, I muted Eminem, and played with the dog 'til he was off the stage.)
5. Sunday was my mom's 77th birthday.
6. Still have things to do regarding the recent death of a friend.
7. I've been having to cook for the dog for the past several days, while waiting for his dog food to ship. This isn't as simple as "Hey, Jerr? You want a burger?" Feeding your human kids shouldn't be that simple, either.
8. A bit put off with at least a couple of high-quality dog food companies. One because they rant about chicken meal, while replacing said meal with oatmeal, instead of adding more meat. The other because a commitment to "indie pet specialty retailers" is the reason they site for not selling in supermarkets. 'Cept PetCo ain't "indie", and that commitment does nothing for rural dogs, regardless.
9. Doing a bit of chart work, which is a bad thing, because I can easily get obsessed with that stuff.
10. I've been making a concerted effort to not blog while angry. If I manage to stick with that goal, hiatuses may become the norm around here.
11. Trying to get enough points for the portable hard drive at Club Bing, because I need a way to back up my files.
12. The scanner is pretty much done. Reworking old designs until I can get a way to draw again.
13. As my mention of taiji would suggest, I'm out of balance, and trying to find it, again.

Coleman Classic Round Dog Bed from Club Bing

I ordered this one from Club Bing on September 29th and received it via UPS on November 2nd. It's 34" in diameter, but came in a much smaller box. The cover and the filling were separate within the box, with the filling folded and stuffed into an air-tight plastic wrap. In order to assemble the dog bed, the filling had to be removed from the plastic, shaken like crazy, then shoved into the cover. Then, the whole thing had to be shaken again, in order to evenly distribute the filling.

I have to say that, if I were out shopping for dog beds, and got a chance to look at (or more importantly, feel of) this one, I would probably buy a different bed. The poly-oxford bottom is nice, and I like the plaid fleece top, too; but, for my preferences, the bed is under-stuffed. When I stretched out on it, I could still feel the floor pressing against my rib cage.

But my preferences are negated by the reason why I haven't included a photo: I didn't have time to take a picture before the bed was covered in dog hair. Jerry loves this bed! He was on it the minute I threw it in the floor, and has chosen it over his well-stuffed, fluffy pillow ever since. 

(Alas, he still doesn't choose it over my bed.)

If I were going to offer a recommendation, I'd recommend using your cash for a different dog bed. I might not make the same recommendation regarding Club Bing tickets. But in the end, I've come to realize that my recommendation really doesn't matter.

Jerry wholeheartedly endorses this product.

Quick Tip: Keeping Up With Pet Food Recalls

Pet food recalls have been a dominant topic for dog- or cat-loving internet denizens for the past couple of years, yet I'm still surprised when I read about a brand new recall. It took me a few days to become aware of the recent Wysong recall, and -- possibly since I don't actually feed Wysong -- my lack of awareness scared me more than the recall, itself.

Keeping up with all of the chatter about dog food, cat food, dangers and deficiencies, can be a bit of a problem. Sure, you can check the FDA's Pet Food Product Recalls List on a daily basis, but there are easier ways.

If you have a Google account, setting up a Google Alert is a simple thing to do. Just type your terms ("pet food" recall), select "Comprehensive" for the type, "as-it-happens" for how often, select your e-mail address as the delivery method, and click "Create Alert". If you're using Gmail Notifier, you should know about new news items, blog posts, and other items that relate to pet food recalls as Google picks up the new content, which beats the heck out of daily visits to particular sites, just to see if they've been updated.

But Google isn't the only alerts game in town. Yahoo! also offers alerts, if Yahoo's more your thing. To set up an alert through Yahoo!, click on "Keyword News", type your keywords (pet food recall) in the "Include" field, click the circle for "As they happen", and check the e-mail option under "Deliver to". Click "Save Alert". If you're using a notifier for your Yahoo! Mail, you're all set up. If not, you can associate a different e-mail address with your Yahoo! account -- preferably one for which you do have a notifier -- and have the alerts sent to that address.

Jerry's Back Yard Excursion

When I start my own religion, the first rule will be "When life allows, walk your dog, ride your bike, or mow the lawn." All of these things have their benefits for either the dog, the environment, or your neighborhood. But they all serve to benefit the doer, too. Whether you choose to see that benefit as psychological, spiritual, or metaphysical is up to you. I'd rather just enjoy it.

And, for me, the past few days have been all dog, all the time. Since the weather was nice today, since Jerry seems to have stopped passing blood and is having no digestive disruptions, since I felt good, but sucked at art; it seemed like a great time to get him out, about, and unbored. We crawled around in the back yard for a while, then he ran a bit while I carried his butt, and, finally, I put him in the stroller for a trip to the park. Only the crawling bit made for decent photos.

You can see a few more shots in Jerry's Photos, if you're so inclined. But be forewarned: He's a disabled dog. He looks like a disabled dog. If you're bothered by that sort of thing, you may not want to look.

Look Before You Sit!

From the Archives: Effective Bladder Expression in Large Male Dogs

Hoo boy! This post always resulted in interesting search hits! It's also not what I had planned to share on this blog. But, today, my dog started passing blood. The why is something I won't go into, right now (you can run a search for paralysis, priapism, and bleeding, if you're so inclined), but I needed to know if the blood was from an external or internal source. That meant that I needed to express his bladder in order to determine if the urine was clear.

Jerry became paraplegic in July of 2007, and bladder expression was an important part of his post-surgical, post-catheter routine. But once he started effectively emptying his bladder on his own, manual expression seemed like a pointless way to annoy the dog. As soon as the vet confirmed the decision, I stopped the expressions. Tonight seemed like a good time to brush up on what I'd forgotten from 2007, just in case what Jerry's experiencing now is a result of less effective bladder emptying.

From July 31, 2007:

...When Jerry pulled his catheter out for the second time, I knew it wasn't going back in. We had just come home from the veterinary clinic, and my only instructions on expressing Jerry's bladder were given by the vet, over the phone. I was told to express his bladder three times each day, to try to find something that felt "like a water balloon", and to apply pressure until the bladder was empty.

It sounds easy, right? No...

Bladder expression can be tricky for several reasons, especially with a larger dog that can't stand on his own. I found some online resources of information, but, generally, those resources are geared toward smaller animals. If Jerry were a Yorkie, I could hold him up with one hand, and express his bladder with the other. But he's not. Expressing his bladder is generally a two-person job, and it's usually done with him lying down.

The way that we've come to approach expressing his bladder is that one of us is in charge of the compression, while the other is in charge of what we've come to call the "pee target". Pee targets are important, unless you want urine all over both your dog and your house. We began by using puppy training pads as pee targets, but have graduated to toddler-sized training pants (ripped at the sides), which are much more absorbent.

Once we have Jerry flat on his side (which is a struggle, in itself, when he doesn't want to be flat on his side), the pee target is slid under the pee organ by the person in front of the dog. (This target will have to be changed/moved a LOT during one expression session.) It's important that the person sitting behind the dog has a clear view of said organ, in order to determine if the compressions are working or not. Once everything is correctly placed, the compressions begin. Compressions, in our case, are simply applying firm, slow pressure to the bladder, from one side. (Both sides would probably be more effective. It's also close to impossible.) Sometimes, urine will come in a strong stream. Sometimes, it's just a dribble. But it's rarely immediate. Give the compression a few seconds before you decide that you're compressing the wrong spot.

If you get a strong stream, and that stream suddenly stops, it does NOT mean that the bladder is empty. Dribbling doesn't mean that you're done, either. There's a learning curve to this game. Think about how much your dog drinks, and how much urine he would pass when he was doing it on his own.  The small amount of urine you're likely to express on your first go-round comes nowhere near that. I wish that dogs in this situation came with a lovely urine gauge (preferably with a chrome bezel and a white-faced dial, 'cause that's just hot), but they don't.  Luckyily, you'll learn as you develop your routine, and notice the results, how to judge when the bladder is fully expressed. Patience will be your greatest weapon in the pee war.

"What results?" you ask, because I KNOW you will. Well, other than the obvious, if your dog's bladder is fully expressed, he's a lot less likely to leak on his bed, your blankets, and himself. Not only is emptying the bladder important for preventing infections, but it's also the best tool in your arsenal for preventing your dog from getting urine scald.

A few caveats:

1. You're gonna get peed on. If that's too much to handle, owning a dog probably wasn't a good idea.
2. If you have carpal tunnel syndrome -- even if it hasn't hurt in a long time -- and you're the one doing the compressions, expect some pain while you're trying to sleep.
3. Don't do this to a healthy dog just because you haven't managed to housebreak him.
4. I'm still learning, and I'm learning by experience. Please talk to your veterinarian.

I'm taking that last bit of advice to heart. Jerry sees his vet tomorrow. Hopefully, a round of antibiotics will clear up the problem, and I won't have to re-learn bladder expression technique.

But the part of me that's been a bit paranoid ever since Jerry got hurt knew it was a good idea to keep this information on hand.

PetCo P.A.L.S. Pays Off

Say what you will about "big box" stores. PetCo is the only place within 50 miles of my house where I can buy my dog's dog food. There are smaller stores here in Advance that sell dog food (including a grocery store, a Dollar General, and a few farm-focused stores), but none where I can buy a high-quality, grain-free food.

So PetCo, it is! And today, the store's P.A.L.S. program finally paid off for me, in the form of a coupon for a free bag of Wellness.

If you're one of those people who can't be bothered with rewards programs, you're short-changing yourself by not signing up for P.A.L.S. Providing that Wellness Core continues to work well for Jerry, I estimate that we should be getting a free bag roughly once every 11 weeks. 

Given the cost of good dog food, I'm grateful for that.

And I'm willing to bet that Jerry's grateful he's not eating farm-store chow in the 36-cent per pound range.