Hot Dogs & Memorial Day What Could Be Better....UNLESS YOU'RE CAUGHT!

I hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day. I did until CM caught me that is, since I am now grounded- she will have to share the reason why.


CM here, as Tonka shared it WAS a good Memorial Day, and there is nothing better than a cook-out. I don't know why, but it just seems that things just taste better off the grill. Today wasn't a big get together, just at home doing things that needed to get done.

AP had left to go help a friend with a computer problem and I stopped working to grab a bite to eat. I remembered that there was still some hot dogs from the grill. I knew that would be the perfect snack to hold me over since later that evening we were having RIBS! =)

I picked the two that looked the best from the grill...I like them when they have all the grill marks and are bursting. So I put them on a plate and warmed them up in the microwave. I got out the buns, ketchup and mustard. I pulled out a glass and poured myself some iced tea, I then put my nice warm hot dogs in their buns on my plate. I had to go to the bathroom, so I left them there to cool a minute.

On the way back to the kitchen my phone rang so I picked it up to have the person on the other end hear me yell..." NO TONKA NO" in their ear. Needless to say I shouted "I'll call you back" and hung up. To which Tonka took that to be his signal EAT FASTER!!

Now, you might be saying about now “WHY" would I leave hot dogs unattended. But you see Tonka has NEVER taken food off the counter or table before. He has "begged" after you, but NEVER helped himself to human food even if he could reach it.

So as I tried to get them from him, he pushed them up under the counter on the floor and then "BUTT/TAILED" blocked me so that I could not reach them! As I was pulling his solid 125 pound body from the hot dogs yelling at him to "drop it". I now wish that I could enter him into the NATHAN HOT DOG EATING COMPETITION! He wouldn't even need water to make the buns go down easy! He ate(inhaled) BOTH hot dogs and buns. Thank goodness I hadn't added the ketchup and mustard!

Now you would think that after being scolded and being made to go out of the kitchen and lay down he would have realized "I'm a bad boy". NOPE!! When I went back to start over again, this time NOT leaving the kitchen. He proceeded to have a temper tantrum!

Tonka came into the kitchen and began to "talk" at me and when that didn't work then he started to bark. Now most of you know Tonka rarely barks and when he does he has to work it up. Not this time! When he still didn't get his way, that being another hot dog; he took it out on the kitchen towel! It was a nice towel...RIP kitchen towel.

Okay, now I'm thinking with his heart surgery and all his meds are hot dogs okay? So knowing that even if I didn't tell AP, that Tonka's evening/morning BM would! So I had to track her down to fill her in....NOW I'M GROUNDED FROM "BABYSITTING" THE ANGEL!!

So it was a nice Memorial Day and I now can NEVER leave an unprotected hot dog in the house.

Tonka Goes Back to School

I went back to school yesterday but not for obedience. I got to go to a school with "kids" my most favoritist things in the whole world. Dr. Weigt who takes care of my eyes called AP and needed a "show and tell" dog for a career day talk she was giving and asked if I could go. AP thought it would be good for me since I have been through so much lately. We went to 2 classrooms and Dr. Weigt showed a slide show and let the kids look in her eye with the slit lamp microscope which is what she looks in my eyes with. When they were finished with the microscope they got to pet me, it was so much fun. I showed off a little at the end with a few tricks and I kissed a few ears. I was very tired at the end of it and Dr. Weigt even said to AP that I was not my pre surgery energetic self. I hope adjusting my meds helps perk me up - see http://blinddogsrule.blogspot.com/2011/05/results-are-in.html .

The Results Are In

AP here:
Tonka is still fine and we are walking everyday but he is not his regular bouncy self and he tires very easily. The results from the Holter Monitor are back and it shows that Tonka has some long pauses in between heartbeats. Dr. Ferguson wants to cut back on his medication a bit and see how he does over the weekend.

Back to the Beach 2011

I had such a busy weekend "down the ocean". I hung out on the new deck that CM had built for me, she calls it Tonka's playpen! It was constructed by JDG Construction Group Inc. http://www.jdgconstruction.net/ and I love it.The guys all had pizza for lunch and I got to have a little crust- yummy. I went for a walk with my girlfriend toots. AP thought she had a good picture of her put it didnt come out that well. We will have to get a new one next time we go. She lives with my good friends Wally and Gwen.

Chillin on the new Deck

Almost Done

My Playpen

Toots

We went into town and I hung out with Rick at Odysea and met lots of kids and people. I also got my favorite cookies at Critter Beach.
It has been 6 weeks since the heart surgery so AP and CM took me to the beach to play. I love the beach and I was going blippity and bloppity all over the place. I was picking up sticks and throwing them and digging holes, it was so much fun.

Stuffed Sausage

I had to go early yesterday morning to get a holter monitor put on to measure what my heart does during a typical day. We went to CVCA in Annapolis where Jamie shaved some of my chest and taped on some wires and things to listen to what goes on inside of me. Then she squished me in a neoprene vest with Velcro on it. Just an FYI Pyr hair and Velcro are not a good mix. I was not comfortable at all and looked silly even though AP kept lying to me and telling me I was handsome. It was like being a stuffed sausage. I tried to get her to take it off.



I gave AP my best "I am mad" look

 

Then I tried to look real pitiful.



Nothing worked and I was stuck wearing it for 24 hours.

It was hard to walk down the steps

I couldn't get comfortable

It was hot on my evening walk

It was a long night and I didn't sleep much. AP and I went real early this morning to get it taken off. Jamie got it all off of me and was careful when pulling off the tape but I was still irritated and itchy.

Itchy Spot

I am so happy that it is off and I hope I never have to wear it again. AP says the results will be back in about a week and then we will know if my heart is doing OK.



Ahh no more vest!!!





A Smelly Subject

AP here:
Look Poop happens! It is a fact of life and if you have a baby or a dog you have had a discussion about poop with your vet, your peditraician and/or your friends. Dog owners that really care for their pets know that not only does "poop happen" but you should be paying attention to it. It is a marker of your dogs health and dietary habits. No one likes to pick up poop but if you really care about your dog and others you will. The consequences of not picking up after your dog are really nasty. All dogs harbor so-called coliform bacteria, which live in the gut. The group includes E. coli, a bacterium that can cause disease, and fecal coliform bacteria, which spread through feces. Dogs also carry salmonella and giardia both of which can make you, your dog and others very sick. Coliform bacteria is what can and does contaminate streams, rivers and lakes and make them unsafe. I personally do not want to step in your dogs waste nor do I want Tonka, his friends or anyone else to have to deal with it. So instead of polluting the environment and poisoning other animals including humans just PICK UP THE POOP.

Some Old Friends and Some New Friends

I went to the beach on Saturday and came home Sunday morning. I had a great time "seeing" all my friends like Wally, Gwen, Jeff and Jill and going to Odysea http://odyseabeach.com/ and saying hi to Rick. While we were walking down the street a voice from above on a restaurant deck asked "does that dog have a prosthetic eye". When AP looked up to answer she saw it was Dr. Wiegt my opthomologist. She takes really good care of my eyes and it is always so nice to "see" her.

When I got home my friends Patty, Ed and Buttercup stopped by with Helen and Raja from the blog http://www.traveldogbooks.com/.  Helen and Raja also wrote a book called the Journey of the Shih Tzu that is all about the breed and its history. AP and I were guest bloggers a while back and Helen and Raja have been really supportive to AP during my heart problems.

Since Raja and Buttercup are a bit smaller than me so I tried to be really careful not to step on one of them. I ended up laying down but not before I gave Helen lots of kisses. It was really great to finally meet them. 

 

Saying Cheese for Ed

 

Hi Raja



You have my full attention!




Happy Crew

 

5 weeks post PDA surgery

AP here:


Earlier in the week we went back to the cardiologist. Tonka has been sluggish and not his usual happy bouncy self. He was vomiting every so often and refusing to eat his breakfast. The bigger concern for me was that he was not interested in anything being cooked in the kitchen. His pre-surgery blood work had showed an abnormal creatinine level which can be a marker to show a kidney problem so we had a new blood panel run. Fortunately his blood work came back with everything normal so Dr. Ferguson started him on Pepcid AC twice a day. This seems to have done the trick and he is now eating with no more vomiting but he is still sluggish and with the hole in his heart fixed he should be just the opposite. Next week he will be outfitted with a cardiac holter monitor. The report generated from the monitor measures the number of PVCs (Premature Ventricular Contractions) or heartbeats that happen before the normal heartbeat, present during a 24-hour period among other data. Tonka's original heart episode was an arrhythmia which is an abnormal pattern of heartbeats either too fast or too slow. His arrhythmia was Atrial fibrillation (AF or “A-fib”). Usually, atrial fibrillation is associated with an underlying structural heart disease with severe secondary heart chamber enlargement (usually left atrial enlargement). His heart is enlarged on the left side and now that he has had the surgery to stop up the hole it should remodel back down a bit. The top chambers (the atria) get the blood from the body and lungs, and their job is to squeeze extra blood into the lower pumping chambers (the ventricles). When the atria fibrillate, the ventricle lose this extra “kick” from the atria, and this leads to less filling of the ventricles, and less forceful of a contraction. Typically the heart rate becomes extremely fast and irregular during atrial fibrillation, and patients may have heart rates above 200-220 beats-per-minute. This leads to decreased filling time for the ventricles, and even less cardiac output. Tonka’s heart rate was above 200 the day he collapsed. The readout from the monitor should be back and interpreted within a week so we will then have a better picture of what his heart is up to

Walk for the Animals

Today was the Walk for the Animals at Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis so Nala and I went to check it out. http://www.aacspca.org/component/content/article/171 It was really cool and I knew a lot of the people that were there at the booths. I "saw" my friends at the GAVH booth and even Dr. Woodburn was there. They gave me some treats and AP filled out a raffle to win a free office visit so cross your fingers that she wins. Kelly the owner of Pet Barn was there and gave me lots of love and some really good treats that I tried to steal some more of on my next pass by. Darwin the turtle was there and I had never met a turtle before so that was something new for me. There was a really big dog walking around on 2 legs and he and I got along great. Nala and I did some of the walk but not the 5 mile walk since that would be too much for me right now but we had lots of fun meeting all the other puppies on the trail. On the way home even Nala closed her eyes and started to fall asleep and she never stops...



Darwin




What is a Darwin

 

Hi

 

Don't Bite My Head

 

That Tickles

 

I Love This Guy



Walking




Out Like a Light