Monday, December 27, 2010

Scaredy Dog

Saturday, the roommates and I went to a Christmas party at a friend's house. They came home afterwards and I stayed over. I returned home the next day, a little after lunch time.

As I was unloading the car, Skeletor darted out the garage door and across the street. I chased him until he had to stop and take a pee. (that's usually how I'm able to catch him)

I dragged the bad doggie back home, trying not to cause him to throw up (which leading him by the collar usually does)

After I finished unloading the car, the roommates told me that he had been acting weird. Reminiscent of the old days, he was acting very scared of the living room. They told me that when they let him into the back yard, he would just stay there too afraid to come back in. Despite the fact that he was shivering in the cold, he was too petrified to enter the house.


Apparently they dragged him in forcefully so he didn't freeze. Skeletor ran into James' room to hide out and seemed interested in the window. James opened his blinds and Skeletor tried to jump out the closed window, knocking over his dvd case.

I let the terrified Skeletor into my bedroom (which seldom happens) and sat with him on the bed. He seemed to be feeling better immediately.


He had some dry food in his bowl that he was apparently not eating. I went into the kitchen and made him a big bowl of wet and dry food mixed together. I called him and called him... he wouldn't leave my bedroom. I tried biscuits, treats, raw hyde, you name it. Skelly wouldn't budge.

I was worried that his sheepishness may mean that he was getting sick again. He had been doing so well lately! A relapse at this point (about a week before he is supposed to begin heartworm treatment injections) would be terrible!

I went and got the food tray and set it down in my bathroom. Skeletor devoured the food like he had not eaten in a week. I left him to finish his food and came back a while later to check on him. The food dish was completely clean!

When he's sick, he normally loses his appetite. Hmmm...

I figured that he may need to use the restroom after that big meal, so I tried to get him to follow me to the back door. No such luck. I went and got the raw hide and biscuits... he did not want to leave my bedroom. Eventually I was able to get him to follow me down the hall, into the living room, and out the back door. I closed all the bedroom doors so he had nowhere to go and be reclusive.

Normally Skelly uses the bathroom and is ready to come back inside after 10 seconds. Ten minutes had passed and there was no sign of him. I looked outside and he was just laying there in the cold grass. I called him and told him to come inside. He walked up to the door, but wouldn't come inside.

I didn't want to force him inside, which wouldn't do much for his nervous state... so I coaxed him inside with a biscuit. Finally, once inside I sat down with him in the living room. His whole body was shivering! I moved his bed in front of the fireplace and covered him with a blanket while I made a fire.

I sat there petting him and waited for the shivers to stop. He was finally beginning to settle down. After a while, I moved over to the couch and Skelly followed. A while later, he was snoring.

When it was time for bed, Skelly walked into his cage like normal and went to sleep. He seemed to be ok again.

This morning, he has been his normal chipper self. He ate all his breakfast without my having to add anything fancy. I let him out to use the bathroom. He was running around the yard having a great time. He took a leak and then wanted to come back inside. I opened the door and he rushed in without hesitation. He's now chomping happily on the floor next to my chair enjoying the leftover raw hyde from last night.

It seems like everything's fine. I was worried about the little punk! Skeletor's sunny disposition, smarts, and vigor make it easy to forget what he's been through. Underneath his healthy, happy puppy exterior lurk the memories of being a starved, neglected, and very sick little doggie.

Being unable to fully understand what goes on in his head, I would imagine that it doesn't take much to jar those awful memories.

Hang in there, Skelly!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Gimme the pill pocket already!

Skelly Warhol

I was just messing around with my new Camera (thank Mel!) and came up with this...


PS: We all got a good chuckle last night when Skelly sneezed and passed gas at the same time.. such a clown!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Skeletor and Insano

Insano was spectating while I was trying to teach Skelly some new tricks.

"OK, I'm laying down... now make with the treat!"

That winning smile!

This shot of Skeletor yawning is rather funny!

"What are you looking at!?"

Thursday, December 9, 2010

I gave Skeletor his heartworm preventative this morning

Per the doctor's orders, I am to monitor Skeletor after giving him the drug to ensure that he doesn't have another nasty reaction.

I gave him the pill around 10:30 this morning. It's 1:05 now.

Let's take a look and see how he's doing, shall we?



That's right! It looks like he's suffering no adverse reaction! He's jumping all over me and trying to nibble my imaginary fleas like it's nobody's business. Way to go Skelly!

It looks like I may be able to bring him in for his first heartworm injection around January 9th. This is exciting yet nerve-wracking news!

Certainly he'll have no issues with the treatment, and he'll come out of it stronger than ever!

Good luck, bud!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Skelly playin' fetch

I took a break from work to toss the ball for this very excited / bored pup... nothing like a little dog drool on the keyboard eh?

Monday, December 6, 2010

Bobble head


Skeletor wants to go outside.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Skelly needs a new trick to learn.. any suggestions?

He's got this "turn around" thing down pat!
At first, there was some confusion because of the similarities in hand gestures to "roll over." He was also having trouble performing the trick at a distance... but not anymore!

A big surprise for Skelly!!

We have a winner!


Skelly's painting sold for $40. Big thanks to all of our bidders!
I hope you enjoy the painting, Maureen. :)




Skeletor's Treatment Update...

Yesterday, Skelly ran out of Prednisone. From what I understand, Prednisone is the steroid that is helping him ward off the anemia. It's also the drug responsible for his insatiable appetite for water and consequently his affinity for making lemonade!! :)

I checked his supply levels and he was getting low on both of his other meds as well. Enalapril was down to 3 tablets and Vetmedin was down to 5. I called the vet and requested refills on all 3.

Today was an incredibly busy day for me at work. I was up at 5:45 to prepare for a 7:30 business networking meeting. My meeting prep time was cut down a bit because I noticed the heel of the sole was falling off one of my shoes. Fortunately I found some super glue. (on a side note, these appear to be nice shoes... hand-me-downs from my step dad that say they are "Made in Italy.")

Towards the end of my networking meeting, I stood up and realized that the front of the sole was now about to fall off. I shuffled about like a penguin, saying goodbye to my fellow networkers, and trying not to lose the sole of my shoe.

After my first meeting of the day, I made an unscheduled stop at Target to possibly buy some super glue. Then, I figured that since these are "nice" shoes, they were probably worth saving. I considered the fact that the only thing that might possibly dry fast enough was super glue and that it may not hold like real "shoe goo" or something made for shoes.

For some reason, they didn't even have any of the stuff that's actually made for shoes. Not that I could have used it to immediately glue my shoes together for my next meeting, which by then, was in about 20 or 30 minutes.

I found a generic pair of shoes for 30 bucks and decided to buy shoe glue later on to worry about fixing these fancy Italian ones. (one of the only 2 styles of dress shoes they seemed to have in black... what a selection!)

I paid for my new kicks and shuffled out to the car. As I put my shoes on in the parking lot like a weirdo, I noticed that it was actually BOTH soles that were falling off of my shoes... The mental picture of me leaving my networking meeting carrying the soles of both of my shoes was priceless!

By 1pm, I had finished up with 3 meetings and received a call from my roommate. His Jeep had been in the shop and was expected to be ready on Monday. I had agreed to drive him to pick it up. Guess what... it's ready early and he needs a ride!

For those of you who are not from Jacksonville, it's a really strange layout for a very spread out city. We have an extremely wide river running through the center of town and personally I think we need more bridges!  In order to get anywhere, you have to make a huge circle! At any rate... the Jeep dealership, our house, and the vet's office form a nearly equilateral triangle that stretches across the entire town.

I got home to pick him up and it was nearly 2pm. I had already had 3 cups of coffee and no lunch. I stopped for chik-fil-a, which I pretty much inhaled on our way to the jeep dealership. I dropped James off, and then headed to the vet's office. 

In case you're wondering why I'm blathering on about the mundane details of my hectic day, I'm doing so in an attempt to help you understand my mindset by the time I made it to the vet to pick up Skelly's meds.

I had been dreading the $100+ price tag that would undoubtedly be associated with 3 simultaneous refills. The vet tech went in the back to grab the pills and the office manager came out a few minutes later with the medication.

She asked me if I knew that somebody had sent in a donation to Skelly's account. "No, I didn't" I replied. She then informed me that an anonymous friend of Skeletor's had sent a donation of $1,000! It looks like we have met our goal for Skelly's treatment!! This amazing news couldn't have come at a better time!


Woo Hoo!! To say that this made my day, would be a huge understatement! Skeletor's medication is paid for, and he's got a credit balance at the doctor's office!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to all of Skelly's magnificent friends out there! He really is the luckiest dog on the planet!! (except for catching heartworms in the first place)

I clarified the next step in Skelly's treatment with the doc. He's supposed to take another month of heartworm preventative before beginning injections (assuming his condition remains stable.)  I'm going to bring him in for the pill early next week.

Thanks again for all of your support! All Skelly wants for Christmas is a clean bill of health, and we hope to give it to him. It may be a couple months late, but I don't think he'll mind!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Some new tricks

Skelly's Training Update...

Teaching Skeletor to close the door is going to take more work than I had anticipated. Not to mention the fact that I need to make him a new handle. We'll see if that ever actually happens :)

Fret not! Skelly has learned some other new tricks. Take a look for yourself...



"Sit up" and "Turn around" are both new to his arsenal. Way to go Skeletor!

Say Cheese!