Kissing

Hello Hello Hello! I promise that I haven't forgotten about my Brutus Blog. I love this little blog, and all that it stands for. I will always remember my first few months with my Brutus boy, and how blogging about our experiences was the only thing that kept both of us alive some days. He is such a different boy from the dog that we picked up on that cold January day two years ago.

For instance....it used to be that if we took a treat out, he would practically take our hand off to get to it. These days he will wait patiently (well, kind of patiently) for us to give it to him, or to give him permission to eat it. He's learned all kinds of commands, like sit, stay (depending on the circumstance), come (if he wants to), and shake (he shakes with us if he wants a treat, not the other way around). Looking back on the last couple sentences, I'm kind of wondering who has trained who! I'm kind of kidding. He's an awesome boy.

Today I thought I would try to teach him to kiss my nose. He gives us kisses (with his nose only, thank goodness) which are very sweet, but I was going to try to get him to aim for the nose. I thought that holding a treat next to my nose and saying "kiss" and then letting him have the treat would work great. Well, it didn't work out exactly like I thought it would. To add to this story, I'm also doing a photo project this year, and this weeks project was taking a picture that included myself in the photo. I had no desire to do a self portrait, so I thought I would get a picture of me teaching Brutus his new trick. Well, here is how it went.....all six seconds of it!

Coming in for the "kiss" and snatching the treat instead.

Making sure the treat is safely in his mouth.

The very cute escape.

Thankfully, Brutus is very treat motivated, so he'll get it eventually. I think that next time I will be a little more cautious about protecting my nose instead of taking pictures!

Puppy Love

It has been such a fun weekend. We had our "Christmas" with the kiddos a week early. Nick and Ashley both had troubles with scheduling a visit during the week of the 25th, so we just moved our gathering up by a week. Nick was able to bring his girlfriend Liz along for the whole visit this year, which was awesome. She is such a love, and such a perfect match for Nick. It's been so much fun to see them together.

Andrew's girlfriend Amber was able to join us on Friday and Saturday evening. She was scheduled to work this weekend so she had to come to the party a little late, but she was nice enough to let her dog Mabel come over and play with Brutus for the weekend while she was at work. Needless to say, Brutus is exhausted!! Every once in a while he would jump up on our bed to hide from Mabel (because she's very well trained and won't jump up on our bed) and he knows it. lol! They spent the weekend playing tug of war, wrestling, kissing, snuggling, and running around like crazy! I'm thinking he will sleep for a good two days! Ahhhhh...........puppy love.

Here's a little slide show of their play date.


http://s935.photobucket.com/albums/ad196/PetersonSheri/?albumview=slideshow

The Dreaded Cone Of Shame

When Brutus woke up today, the sore on his foot looked even worse than it did yesterday. It was still swollen about the same amount, but one side of it was kind of white and oozy. Sorry for the gross word in there, but there was just no nice way to say it. It was definitely time to head to the doggy doctor. Ugh. :(

On a happy note, Andrew came home last night for a dentist appointment that he had today. Brutus adores Andrew, to the point that he actually slept downstairs in his crate last night to keep an eye on him. Brutus hates it downstairs. He'll typically only go down there to go outside to go to the bathroom, or if Don is down there with food. If there is food involved, as soon as it is swallowed, he's right back up those stairs. I will never know what happened to him in a basement that makes him so afraid, but our basement is warm and cozy, and it just doesn't matter. Even today, Andrew got all kinds of love and "pats". At one point Andrew was sitting on the bed doing some stuff on the laptop. Our oldest cat Princess jumped up to say "hello" to him, and Brutus about fell apart. All of a sudden he was rolling over on his back trying to get Andrew's attention, and tapping his leg. When that wasn't getting his attention away from Princess, the head in the lap had to take place. Finally Brutus had had it. He stood up and sneezed really loud at Princess. Problem solved. Life was as it should be again.....in Brutus land.

Anyway, I digress. So, as always, I call the clinic to schedule Brutus's appointment, and give the girl at the desk fair warning that Brutus may throw a bit of a "fuss". In my mind I'm thinking that if anyone touches that back foot, he'll take their head off, but I didn't want to go quite that far with my honesty. For all of you dog owners out there, you'll love what came out of the receptionist's mouth next. "Well, maybe we should just muzzle him before we even take him back to the room". That's right. Let's go in to this with a positive attitude. In her defense, I'm the one always reminding them that they may need to be prepared for a bit of trouble. Maybe I should just stop, although, it's right on the computer screen that Brutus is a "vicious dog". More like a big fraidy cat.

I am at the point in getting over the flu that when I am standing up for more than an hour, I break out in a sweat. Yes, it's been ten days. No, I have no idea why I am such a wimp when it comes to this. I have my physical tomorrow, and may ask for euthanasia. Anyway, I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to handle Brutus alone, so Don came home to help. Thank goodness!! He literally had to pick him up just to get him in the room, and Brutus weighs 90 lbs. Not an easy task. We managed to get through the Vet Tech's interview without a muzzle, and even the doctor's eyeball exam of the foot. Things were going pretty well. Unfortunately, the foot was going to require a cortisone shot, and very close to the wound. I muzzled Brutus and held his leg while Don held Brutus. The doctor put the shot in gently, but as quickly as he could. He actually got almost the whole shot in, which should help to calm down the inflammation a lot. Brutus also has to take two weeks of antibiotics for the underlying infection, and wear the cone on his head when we aren't watching him close to keep him from licking. He has another appointment in two weeks to see if we need to repeat the shot and continue with the antibiotics. The lump on his foot was pretty big.

My heart felt thanks goes out to Cori Mason, a girl who I have watched grow up and become an amazing Veterinary Assistant. She gave me great advice to follow in the interim until the time came for me to take Brutus in to the doctor. I just wish Cori didn't live eight hours away!! Any vet clinic that has her is very lucky.

So, that is Brutus's update. I also want to thank Amber, Andrew's girlfriend, for the cute little "Cone of Shame" clip from the movie "Up". It's so sad, but it certainly made me laugh a little. I will share it below. Have a happy everyone!!

Someone Needs Their Tongue Tied!

My Brutus Boy is such a nervous Nelly! It just breaks my heart. His nervous habit of choice is licking, and it isn't like he chooses to lick my floors and clean them up, or clean his whole body. No, my boy licks one spot on his body, over and over and over until he literally just can't lick it anymore.

This time it started with Don leaving to go deer hunting. As silly as this sounds, Brutus is very much a two parent dog. When dad doesn't come home between 4:00 and 5:00 (which is when Brutus starts sitting at the top of the stairs waiting for him) there is obviously a big reason to get nervous and start to worry. He gets a very sad face, and will pace around for a while. When he finally gives up and comes to bed, he lets out several big sighs and lays his head down on his paws and looks at me like he's saying "where's my dad, and how can you possibly just be laying there like that"?

To add insult to injury, I went to my mom's for Thanksgiving. I was only gone for the day, but since I would be gone the whole day, and Brutus couldn't come with, I had to kennel him. The kennel we take him to is great, and he's been there before, so it isn't like we're just dropping him off some place that he's never been. Actually, I had taken him in there a couple days prior to his drop off day just to say "hello" and get a belly rub and a treat to ease the stress of drop off day. But, he's used to getting a good ten hours of sleep a night on a king size bed in total peace and quiet, and at the kennel I'm sure there were dogs that cried all night for their families. Also, his kennel is located inside of PetSmart, and the store itself is closed on holidays, so I had to drop him off the night before Thanksgiving, and pick him up the day after, which meant two nights away from home. So now we have dad gone, and staying at a kennel. Double stress!!

Don came home from Thanksgiving and picked Brutus up from the kennel, which was like Christmas, but two days later I am hit by a Mac truck that happens to be carrying the flu in it, and honestly, I'm still not recovered, so he hasn't had a walk from me in quite a few days. So not good! He's used to getting walked close to every day, if for no other reason just to mark all of his territories. That's important boy stuff!! Now we're up to triple stress!!!

Now throw in Don taking him to the lake last weekend. Honestly, he was doing the right thing because Brutus LOVES being at the lake, but Don had plans on Friday night and Saturday night, so you guessed it, Brutus was home alone. Lick lick lick.

So this is where we are today. Fair warning, it isn't pretty. It's hard to tell, but this is his hind paw. He was very fussed up about me even taking a picture of it, as I'm sure it's very sore. I've been trying to put antibiotic cream on it, and a few times I've put a sock over it, but since he's licking it all the time, I'm sure the antibiotic cream isn't doing a whole lot of good. You can probably all imagine how long the sock stays on! I contacted our family friend Cori who is a veterinary assistant, and she thinks we can "lick" this thing at home. Pun totally intended. Somehow, I need to distract him long enough for the antibiotic cream to soak in. She also suggested getting one of those cone collar things to put around his head if he won't leave it alone. That would be great fun! Honestly, I can see a couple of the cats taking great advantage of that one!! Funniest home videos, here we come.

So, keep your fingers crossed, or paws crossed. Whatever works. A trip to the vet to look at something that "hurts" would definitely mean sedation for Brutus, or death for the vet. :(  We'll keep you posted.

Brotherly Love

Brutus's dad has been out of town for a few days, and Brutus has been pouting big time. He is really good at pouting. He does this thing where he lays his head down on his paws and lets out this big breath, like he's sighing. And labs have these incredibly soulful sad looking eyes to begin with, so even though he may not be completely miserable, he sure has been acting like he is!

Brutus and his brother Andrew

Andrew to the rescue. My son Andrew was in the Cities visiting a friend over the weekend, and he stopped in for a visit. I thought Brutus was going to jump through the roof. He was so excited when he saw Andrew pull in to the drive way. I'm sure that at first he thought it was his Dad, but he seems to love Andrew just as much, so it was OK when it wasn't Dad. Andrew got hugs and kisses, and the whole time that we were trying to visit, Brutus was putting toys in his lap. I got a phone call, and all of a sudden Andrew and Brutus disappeared. I could have kissed Andrew's whole face a million times!! He grabbed Brutus's leash and took him for a run. It seriously was the best thing he could have done. I walk Brutus, and we go at a fairly rapid pace, but Andrew runs, and Brutus LOVES it. Brutus was so happy and excited when they got back that he grabbed his favorite toy and just ran up and down the hallway.

Needless to say, he slept really really good that night. Thank you Andrew!!

If I Just Had A Red Nose That Blinked!

I am convinced that Brutus's second calling in life, the first being "Master Chipmunk Chaser" is to be Rudolph's replacement. If only those reindeer aged!! I mean, the boy loves snow, he can jump like Lebron James, and his enthusiasm when he's outside is never ending. And let's be honest here, his "boys" have been removed, so he may even talk like Rudolph. We don't really know for sure what his real speaking voice sounds like.

We are having our first snow fall this morning, and when it started, it started in full force. Brutus had been outside just an hour earlier and the sky was clear, but when I opened the door to let him out again his face lit up like a Christmas tree!! First he smelled the drive way, then he licked it, and from there it was twenty minutes of jumping and running and sliding around. He love love loves the snow, and I have decided that that must be the reason why he suddenly seems to gain about ten pounds right before the snow flies, and then manages to drop it in the spring. I gain ten pounds right before the snow flies because I buy way too much Halloween candy!!

So, enjoy the following pictures of my "Rudolph wanna be" having fun this morning, and everyone be safe out there. Since I took these pictures, we have gained at least an inch more of snow on the roads.

The Price of Gas

I have to laugh, because in our home, the cost of gas lately has been tears, laughter and a lot of blankets over our nose! When we were first married, it was Don's fault. I am totally sticking with that story, and nothing you can say is going to change it. Now, it is Brutus's fault, and Don will completely agree with me!

Most of the time his digestive system isn't too bad, but when we give him a treat that he hasn't had before, or a bite of something that might be more fatty than what he's used to, everyone within a fifty foot radius pays for it! His reaction to his gas is the funniest part. There are the silent but deadlies. When those fly, he doesn't even move. Don and I can be laying on the bed literally hiding under the covers gagging, and Brutus just looks at us like "what's your problem?" Although, coming from a guy who will carry a dead chipmunk around in his mouth on a hot summer afternoon, for hours, I would have to say that his "gross" radar doesn't function properly.

Then there are what I like to call the slippery ones. Those usually get his attention. I can always tell because he'll all of a sudden jump up and look at his bum to see if something bit him. I'm guessing they burn a little!

The funniest of all are the noisy ones. For example, I was sitting in the kitchen today, and Brutus had quite a loud toot. He literally had no idea where the noise came from and jumped up to stand at attention and look around to see what was making the noise. He had that look on his face like he was ready to bark at whatever it was that was making noise, perched with one paw half way up and all.

What a goof.