Suddenly those tasty acorns have taken on a sinister persona

A while back, our pal Skeletor had a very, very upset stomach.
We were quite worried when he puked for um... 12 hours straight.

Though we never found out exactly what the little guy had gotten into, we had certainly considered that it could have been from ingesting acorns.

We have a plethora of acorns outside our house. Skelly has been know to snack on them when nobody's looking. I read that acorns are no good for doggies.

About a month ago, we started noticing some noise coming from the back porch area. Melanie pointed out that it was getting worse. At first, I thought it was squirrels running around on the roof. But then I thought to myself... how do squirrels get worse? 

Then it dawned on me... those acorns! The giant trees were dropping them like they were bad habits. The colder it gets, the more frequently they hurl them suckers downward. 

Sadly we have not done much handing out on the back porch, and it's the perfect weather to do so! Melanie's been really busy going to school online to get her master's degree. I've been working my face off trying to rule the world. 

Today, I decided to take a break and get some fresh air. I let my pal, Skeletor tag along. We were only out there for a few seconds when an acorn smashed into the roof. This really scared the crap out of poor Skeletor. It scared him so bad, he lost his footing on the tile floor. After that he was not too interested in the fresh air, so I let him back inside. 

Hours later, I decided to snap a few photos of him in his nifty pink bandana. (I bought the pink bandana for "Race for the Cure" which Mel and I participated in last week.)

Wouldn't you know it, this vicious pit bull is still shaken up from the acorn incident! Oh, the poor little guy! Here's a video

Skeletor's oh, so clever methods of always getting his way

Always the innovator, our pal Skeletor never ceases to amaze. On the surface, he's a drooling, clumsy, mouth-breathing goof. Upon closer inspection, you'll notice that he may be smarter than he lets on.

Skeletor is totally convinced that he's human, so it's only natural that he love, love, LOVES the couch! This is one of the few "no dogs allowed" zones in our house. Skeletor objects to this rule. Any time we're not paying attention, he's there. Sometimes he'll hop up there while I'm staring right at him. Usually he's more tactful though.

Usually when he's lounging about on the couch, he automatically slinks off the second one of us enters the room. Clearly he knows he's not allowed on the couch, but remains fundamentally opposed to the idea. As a deterrent, we have to put the lid of a giant plastic bin on the couch when we're not using it.

First, you should know that he's managed attain the freedom to roam the house at night instead of being confined to his kennel. Of course, you give him an inch, and he's going for the mile. Just being allowed free reign of the house, wasn't enough. Skelly then charmed his way into our bedroom where he would sleep next to the bed.

It's amazing what he can get away with thanks to those good looks!

Well, being very light sleepers, Mel and I quickly grew weary of Skelly's incessant night noises.

• 12:15am: Skeletor decides to shake it off. His lips flap and clap about like the loud and sudden shuffling of cards. 
• 12:47am: Skeletor locates a very tasty part of his body, and begins a 10 minute licking session.
• 1:12am: Skeletor imagines he has peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth, and tries to lick it off. 
• 2:24am: Skeletor in deep slumber, begins to snore like a couple of lumberjacks sawing down a tree. 
• 4:01am: Skeletor decides to go for a drink in the kitchen. His nails tap tap tap the whole way there and back. 
• 4:04am: Before curling back up, Skeletor feels the urge to shake it off once more. Que the veritable orchestra of lips slapping against each other. :)
• 4:49am: More licking
• 5:39am: Even more licking
• 7:00am: Alarm goes off... people must get up and go to work, while Skeletor gets to continue his slumber.  

Needless to say, we decided he should stay out of the room, at least on work nights!

So, the other night, the new rule went into effect. Skeletor was exiled from the bedroom and was limited to the entire house for his nocturnal adventures.

I heard what sounded like skeletor pulling the bin lid off the couch and curling right up. I thought to myself, "no way he just did that." and I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, I felt well-rested. When I entered the living room, my suspicions were confirmed. There he was curled up in the cushiony fruits of his diabolical labor.

Well, as my ability to out-smart this pup wanes, I can take solace in the fact that soon, he'll be smart enough to hold down a job and start to contribute around here!

Have a great week!

Sketch of skelly

"ok I am layin' down.. Gimme the biscuit already!"

Dropping of skeletor for an echocardiogram

Hoping for great news!

Update: well, not exactly great news, but not bad news. There is a very slight improvement in his heart. However there is also some scar tissue on one of his valves that they find odd. The poor little guy will always have a bad heart (as we know and today's visit reaffirms.)

He is to stay on vetmedin probably for the rest of his life.

Go figure. Oh well, at least he is happy and relatively healthy :) go skelly!

Skeletor looks funny with no collar

Last night, he had some kind of itchy ear and kept making all sorts of jingling and jangling. I decided to take his collar off and now he is quiet as a ninja.

Long awaited update: dieting, playfulness, cooler weather

Well well well... where to begin.

I guess I'll pick up after my last post. I'm sorry it was so long ago. I've been extremely busy with work lately!

Last I posted, Skeletor was having quite a problem with coughing. His x-ray had not improved since he was all heartworm infested. This was certainly not great news for us.

After about a week on a whole host of various medications, the boy started to feel better. I was able to take him off the cough suppressants well before they ran out.

He had some minor issues with fleas and tapeworms. (which go hand-in-hand since animals contract tapeworms by eating fleas)

The fleas issue was one that we shared. I woke up one morning with tiny bites all over my arm. Wow... it had been quite a while since I was bitten by fleas... they make mosquito bites seem like gentle kisses in terms of discomfort and itchiness!!! No wonder poor Skelly has been so miserable with these critters chompin' on his flesh!

We tried some over the counter drops on his back. These did little to nothing. Fortunately, the doc sold us a drug called Comfortis, which fleas seem to really hate.

So, a few weeks ago, Mel and I started to notice that our pal Skelly was really starting to pack on the pounds. After some consideration, we realized that we were feeding him 3 times a day instead of twice as recommended by the dog food bag.

Something else we noticed was that we seemed to have synchronized eating schedules with him. His food and water are near the table. Whenever we sat down to eat, Skeletor would want to join us. We would just give him a cup of food without thinking twice about it.

It had gotten to the point where he wouldn't even eat his food unless we were sitting at the table.

At first, he was not pleased with his new feeding regiment. He would flip out when we were having lunch without him. He would demand seconds after gobbling up his breakfast and dinner. He would push buttons like crazy (his nose is his tool for pushing buttons. He has been known to nudge people for pets, turn on and off xbox consoles, knock over food containers, push empty bowls across the floor, etc) to indicate that he wanted more food!

After he settled into the diet a little, he became a much more frisky fellow. We did not realize how subtly lethargic and lazy he had become until he reverted to his playful former self.

Lately he has been going crazy entertaining himself. He has dragged every single toy from his toy box. I'm talking everything from favorite new toys to the old toys that he's had since we rescued him that he has never paid attention to for more than 2 seconds. He is suddenly so much more energetic and interested in just about everything!

I have always known that overfeeding your animals was not a good thing to do, but I had no idea what a positive effect a little fitness could have on a pooch.  I guess they are no different than people in that respect. (and so many others!)

So, as you can see, Skeletor is doing VERY WELL!!

He has not been doing much coughing at all. He's been really spry and energetic. His appetite is off the charts!! When we feed him now, he woofs it down and is demanding more before the food even lands in the bowl.

Today, I realized that he's quite a fan of carrots! Now there's a nice dog treat that won't tip the scales. :)

After the bad news x-ray we had in July, I decided to post-pone his echocardiogram for about a month to give his condition a chance to improve. His echo is scheduled for this month (the 22nd I think).

We're hoping that his energy levels are an indication that his heart and lungs have shown signs of improvement! The summer is FINALLY breaking here in north Florida, and holy crap are we all sick of the heat! Skeletor is surely going to enjoy the fall activities we have in store for him :)

Skeletor is going on a doggy diet

After many months of scamming extra meals, this puffy pooch needs to shed a few pounds.