Man's Best Friend

Post by **Shirley** » Tue Dec 17, 2013 1:43 pm

I occasionally get emails from the website Quora (I must have signed up at some point), listing some of the top recent questions and answers. One this week was "What are some nice, beautiful stories?" This was the top answer:

My wife and I owned two dogs that we had owned before we met and brought into the marriage. Her dog was a pit bull/labrador cross named Zack, and he hated me. When our daughter was born, I said to the wife,"If he so much as nips at the baby, he's gone."

We brought our daughter home in a car seat, and both dogs sniffed and licked her, tails wagging. I had to pull Zack away from her because he wouldn't stop licking her. Zack immediately became my daughter's protector, and when she was lying on a blanket on the floor, he always had to have one foot on the blanket.

Zack loved my daughter immensely, and when she became a little older always walked her to bed, and then slept on the bed with her. He somehow knew whenever it was time to go upstairs, and he would wait at the foot of the stairs for her, and then follow her up to bed.

Zack was poisoned by some dirtbag neighbor kids, and we had one of the worst days of our lives. Watching my daughter say goodbye to him as he laid still on the kitchen floor, my wife and I were both sobbing.

At 8:00 that night, my daughter walked to the stairs to go to bed. At that moment, all three of us realized what was about to happen. After 5 years, she didn't have Zack to accompany her upstairs. She looked at her mother and me with a look of horror and panic.

It was at that moment that my dog, who loved my daughter dearly, but was not in Zack's league, stood up, walked over to her, and nudged her with his head. He put his foot on the stairs, and looked up at her. They walked up to bed, with my daughter holding tightly to his neck.

For the next 6 years, until he died, Sam waited for her by the stairs each night.

http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-nice ... ul-stories" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Tue Dec 17, 2013 3:59 pm

That's awesome.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Tue Dec 17, 2013 4:06 pm

Damn it I really need to dust this joint.

Post by **Shirley** » Tue Dec 17, 2013 4:10 pm

Rush2112 wrote:Damn it I really need to dust this joint.

Yeah, I had to close my office door for about 10 minutes after reading that.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Tue Dec 17, 2013 4:52 pm

Rush2112 wrote:Damn it I really need to dust this joint.

Damn these winter allergies. Off to give my dog a hug.

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 7:02 am

Good boy.

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 4:43 pm

Keg wrote:I dropped off Deebo at the vet today so that they can take his semen sample and artificially inseminate my neighbor's bulldog (Pebbles). Should have puppies in about nine weeks.

Puppies are due in two weeks. An ultrasound is scheduled for next week to find out how many puppies are in the litter.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 4:49 pm

rass wrote:Good boy.

These allergies are killing me.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 8:45 pm

rass wrote:Good boy.

Enough people have donated money so that he can keep his dog even after it reaches retirement age.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/12/19 ... -save-him/

That is a Christmas movie that I would watch.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 7:55 am

While that seems great and all...won't that create problems with the new guide dog?

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:17 pm

Toby had a seizure when we went for a walk this afternoon. We had gone on our normal Sunday walk this morning but I wanted to get out and enjoy the springtime before it disappeared again. Thankfully we weren't too far away from a family house and so I carried him to my aunt's. He was in it for maybe 10 minutes -- he came to after about 5, but it took a few more minutes to regain full motor control.

He never loses consciousness, but he just gets the look of fear in his eyes, his jaw locks and he starts drooling and he can't control his limbs. Ugh. It's so not fun.

The seizures have always been when he's been sitting/laying before. Never when we've been out. Now I'm going to have to take my phone with me all the time. I usually try to use it as a way to get away from being connected. Not any longer.

rass · Post by **rass** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:28 pm

Puppy been OK, Bronto?

Our dog has been vomiting up bile the last couple of weeks. He has otherwise been behaving normally, eating normally (for him), and pooping normally, so we went the Googles route instead of taking him right to the vet. This right here describes the situation exactly. He's older (will be 10 this year), and is a shitty eater, especially in the morning. A lot of times he'll eat next to nothing in the morning and end up eating his breakfast and a portion of his dinner at night. The vomiting has always been in the morning, and it has always been the bile-looking stuff, no food. I started dosing his food with either a little bit of parmigiana cheese, or chicken (or turkey) soup to make it more enticing. The instances he has eaten more regular portions in both the AM and PM, he has been good the next day.

He ate very well yesterday, had no issues, and then this morning I got him to eat about half of his breakfast. My wife stopped in at home after dropping the kids off at school, and found a giant pile of vomit, this time including food (she thought it looked like more than one day's worth of food). In addition to the food, there was a dark brown chunk of what she said looked like poop, though it didn't smell like poop (yeah, the things people do for their pets). He is acting normal, and took a dump on our walk this morning, but this time we made a vet appointment for this evening. The internet seems to feel that chunk of matter indicates that he managed to work something up from his intestines, which sounds just horrible.

Post by **brian** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:42 pm

Damn, this is a bad month for our dogs. My 12-year-old black lab had an episode of vestibular disease on Saturday night, from which he hasn't recovered yet (it's essentially an inner-ear thing that makes it so that they have trouble walking, standing, etc.). We were worried it was a stroke but the vet said if it is vestibular they usually recover in a few days. He's better, but still not in great shape.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 2:00 pm

rass wrote:Puppy been OK, Bronto?

Our dog has been vomiting up bile the last couple of weeks. He has otherwise been behaving normally, eating normally (for him), and pooping normally, so we went the Googles route instead of taking him right to the vet. This right here describes the situation exactly. He's older (will be 10 this year), and is a shitty eater, especially in the morning. A lot of times he'll eat next to nothing in the morning and end up eating his breakfast and a portion of his dinner at night. The vomiting has always been in the morning, and it has always been the bile-looking stuff, no food. I started dosing his food with either a little bit of parmigiana cheese, or chicken (or turkey) soup to make it more enticing. The instances he has eaten more regular portions in both the AM and PM, he has been good the next day.

He ate very well yesterday, had no issues, and then this morning I got him to eat about half of his breakfast. My wife stopped in at home after dropping the kids off at school, and found a giant pile of vomit, this time including food (she thought it looked like more than one day's worth of food). In addition to the food, there was a dark brown chunk of what she said looked like poop, though it didn't smell like poop (yeah, the things people do for their pets). He is acting normal, and took a dump on our walk this morning, but this time we made a vet appointment for this evening. The internet seems to feel that chunk of matter indicates that he managed to work something up from his intestines, which sounds just horrible.

My 8 year old terrier has had spells of this since she was young.

Problem used to be that if she was really hungry in the morning, she'd get agitated - possibly because I used to get that way knowing the bile was coming.

Now before bed she gets a small bowl of food and a milk bone, so even if she doesn't eat first thing in the morning, her stomach is still kind of full. It's gone from being an occasional issue to being a rare one.

She will also hurl up her food if she eats too fast.

I'm sure your vet will have good advice, but the before bed bowl of food has pretty much solved this issue. One caveat - I started with parmigian and moved on to shredded cheese and whatever leftovers we had. This ultimately became a nightmare as she refused to eat anything that wasn't close to a 50/50 mix of dog and human food.

Luckily, we have found a couple of wet foods that she likes, so we mix that with the dry.

Man, when I was a kid, I had a dog that would wolf down whatever was put in his bowl. What's wrong with dogs today?

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 2:23 pm

I grind chicken jerky into powder and sprinkle that onto Deebo's kibbles. He eats that stuff up. I'll also spray some olive oil (or vegetable oil) into his kibbles every once in a while, which is supposed to be good for his skin and coat. (I've heard good things about giving your dog coconut oil, but I haven't tried it).

rass · Post by **rass** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 2:57 pm

Thanks guys. I was planning on going with a wet food, but he responded well to what we had on hand and I never bothered.

Hope your guy feels better, brian.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 7:09 am

Doc said Gusto is in perfect health. They weren't sure what the odd mass of stuff was, except they said it was full of hair. Side effect of living in a house full of girls, I guess. He got an injection of something and then a week's worth of the same drug in pill form, and if the vomiting hasn't gotten better by the time that is up, we may have to take him back for more thorough testing.

devilfluff · Post by **devilfluff** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 7:28 am

I'm always amazed by picky eating dogs. They obviously exist, but every dog I've ever had would eat anything dropped in their bowl. Usually so fast they couldn't taste it. This includes Polo, who never leaves a crumb. Dry only, half am, half pm.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 5:57 pm

We just changed the food we feed our dog. All of a sudden, she wouldn't eat it, after having it for years. Liked the cats' food and liked his treats, so it was specific to his kibble. Tried some new stuff and we are now back on track. Weird.

Post by **brian** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 6:08 pm

rass wrote:Thanks guys. I was planning on going with a wet food, but he responded well to what we had on hand and I never bothered.

Hope your guy feels better, brian.

Thanks, he continues to have occasional issues with the stairs but for the most part he's back to normal.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Tue Jan 28, 2014 11:23 am

rass wrote:Puppy been OK, Bronto?

Our dog has been vomiting up bile the last couple of weeks. He has otherwise been behaving normally, eating normally (for him), and pooping normally, so we went the Googles route instead of taking him right to the vet. This right here describes the situation exactly. He's older (will be 10 this year), and is a shitty eater, especially in the morning. A lot of times he'll eat next to nothing in the morning and end up eating his breakfast and a portion of his dinner at night. The vomiting has always been in the morning, and it has always been the bile-looking stuff, no food. I started dosing his food with either a little bit of parmigiana cheese, or chicken (or turkey) soup to make it more enticing. The instances he has eaten more regular portions in both the AM and PM, he has been good the next day.

He ate very well yesterday, had no issues, and then this morning I got him to eat about half of his breakfast. My wife stopped in at home after dropping the kids off at school, and found a giant pile of vomit, this time including food (she thought it looked like more than one day's worth of food). In addition to the food, there was a dark brown chunk of what she said looked like poop, though it didn't smell like poop (yeah, the things people do for their pets). He is acting normal, and took a dump on our walk this morning, but this time we made a vet appointment for this evening. The internet seems to feel that chunk of matter indicates that he managed to work something up from his intestines, which sounds just horrible.

Yes, thanks for asking. He's been good since then, so we just wait and see and wonder about the next one.

The day before, he was at my parents' house and my dad had made a bunch of homemade chocolate pudding. And Toby got into it. So we had to salt him to make him puke it up. Vet wonders if the puking messed up his system a little bit. (Chocolate and lactose for a lactose intolerant dog would have been a great combination.)

Glad your dog is feeling and doing better. And same for you, Brian. This truly was a great month. The seizures are just horrible because they're so unpredictable and there's just nothing you can do.

rass · Post by **rass** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:39 pm

All good since going on the drug, which ran its course last Thursday.

testuser2 · Post by **testuser2** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:55 am

Our 11 year old Beagle decided to eat a bag of advil last week. It was the night before a week long trip to Disney and she dug them out of a zipped back pack on a bed. We're not sure how much she had. We're guessing between 5-20 pills.

She spent that night in the dog ER and the next at our regular vet. After that she was with the in-laws while we were on vacation. Last night was our first one home and we got to see her. She doesn't look good. The vet says that here kidney's were ok. However, she is drinking/peeing constantly. She went three times last night. Two of which she never even woke up. Kidney failure seems to be in the near future.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:03 am

Fuuuck. Sorry man.

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:12 am

Good luck, TestUser.

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:13 am

Did you try to induce vomiting when you realized she ate the pills?

testuser2 · Post by **testuser2** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:43 am

Keg wrote:Did you try to induce vomiting when you realized she ate the pills?

We discovered she ate them about an hour after it happened. We immediately called the vet. During that call the dog went outside and puked. She did that a few more times. At the vets office they had her on an IV and fed her some charcoal. They said her kidney's looked good, but they must be deteriorating.

We called the vet again and they said all we can do is wait, give her lots of water and let her out often.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:03 pm

Good luck, man.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 8:59 am

Thoughts and prayers headed your way.

rass · Post by **rass** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:17 am

My mutt came down with an apparently uncomfortable case of he shits last night. I walked him twice between 1AM and 3AM. He had been boarded a number of times the last three weeks whole we had work done on the house, and he got the runs a couple of times, but in those cases he was acting completely normal and we thought it was nerves (he is an anxious little fucker). This morning he was kind of listless, and then he pissed in the house an hour ago. My wife just took him to the vet. We're due to have a house full of people for a St Pat's party in......15 minutes.

joeyclams · Post by **joeyclams** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 11:36 am

Bummer to hear about your pooch, TestUser. I hope he/she comes out of it.

On a little better note, we rescued a 3 month old lab a few weeks back. This is Finn.

He's fitting in nicely with our 13 yr old GSP, Homer.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:35 pm

Get those dogs to do the dishes

joeyclams · Post by **joeyclams** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:14 pm

I know. What slobs, right?

Post by **Sabo** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:35 pm

Cute pup, clams.

rass · Post by **rass** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 5:15 pm

rass wrote:My mutt came down with an apparently uncomfortable case of he shits last night.
<snip>

So he had a fever, and after some medicine he is feeling better. However, while the doc was poking around, he felt a mass towards the back of Gus' abdomen. He thought it could have been pressing against his prostate, which could have caused the peeing, but upon closer inspection it turned out to be his prostate itself that was enlarged. The doctor is pretty pessimistic about the cause, but we should be getting a definitive answer from a biopsy and further scans early this week. Crap.

rass · Post by **rass** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 12:32 pm

And the results came back showing no cancer. He just has prostatitis of some sort, so the infection and the enlarged prostate are all related. Other than a momentary twinge of buyer's remorse over how much they charged us for what turned out to be unnecessary tests, I'm very happy.

Post by **Shirley** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 12:39 pm

rass wrote:And the results came back showing no cancer. He just has prostatitis of some sort, so the infection and the enlarged prostate are all related. Other than a momentary twinge of buyer's remorse over how much they charged us for what turned out to be unnecessary tests, I'm very happy.

You probably just need to milk him more regularly.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 1:40 pm

No more coffee for your dog, rass. Glad to hear he's better, tho.

And, nice looking pup, Clams! welcome back.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 8:49 am

That dog on the left just sold for a record 1.9 million.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 8:54 am

Jerloma wrote:That dog on the left just sold for a record 1.9 million.

Yeah, but the new owner will more than make his money back selling the fleece to make sweaters.