so {this} is how you age in dog years

within months of marriage, hubs and i adopted a puppy.
is there a word exceeding hyper?
that's what he was.
fortunately for him, he was cute.
i vowed that if we ever owned another dog,
we would do our homework a little more thoroughly.



when we decided it was time for the girls to have a pup.
we opted to skip the pup-phase, and extend an act of kindness to a rescue dog.
so i hit the world wide web, and found jasmine.
yep, she already had that name...
and it fit her just fine.
it was better than all of the hannah-montana-themed names the girls were dreaming up at the time.  we're way past that phase now.

did you know that black dogs are labeled as least likely to be adopted?
they look more intimidating.
it's sad, really.
because we can't imagine not having jasmine in our lil' family team.



only...
she has one fault.
that's all that comes to mind, anyway.
*ehem*
after today, i think it's safe to label it as extreme separation anxiety.
{oh, yes, i've researched plenty of things to try.}

she even goes to the back door when she needs to... ummm... throw up.  sorry.  just want you to see how eager she is to please her pack leader.  but she's protective of her pack, too.  takes her a while to warm up to new people.  *sigh*

we look forward to colder temperatures when she can ride e.very.where. with us.
she does so well in the car.
she mostly wants to know if we've brought any left-overs.

during the warmer months, at home, it's a different story.

we kennel her in the house, when we are away.
always have.  it was agreed upon in our adoption papers.
so we haven't tested any other alternatives.
i'm beginning to question that.
but i like my sofa in tact.  you know?

today, the girls and i came home from theater class only to find her paw mangled inside the wire door of her kennel.  {she's hurt her nose before.  wore out her old wire kennel.  this was the second time in the new aspca one.}  i'm thinking of renaming her houdini... i couldn't figure out how she managed it.  the rim of her plastic water bowl was also bitten to pieces, while holding blood.  a sight we hope never to see again.

i sent the tearful girls out of the room and called our pet-sitter at work.  she told me to get someone to help me load the entire kennel in the car and take her to the vet. {sometimes, you just need someone to tell you what to do in an emergency}

looking outside, i'd never been so happy to see a garbage truck.

yep, you betcha... i ran down the street like a crazy lady, flagging down the garbage men.  they ran with me to my house and loaded the kennel in the car.  one asked if the dog would bite.  ummmm... she's stuck INSIDE the kennel.  i'm not complaining.  i was thankful for the muscle help.

driving as carefully as i could, as to not jolt the kennel, i called hubs.  yeah, remember?  he's out of town.

our vet's office took her in right away.  we counted 5 people who came out to tell us that jazzy was given a sedative and that the wire was finally removed from her paw... via bolt cutters. we left her in good hands, but it really put a wrench in our studies.  we accomplished a few things, simply for distraction, but our minds were elsewhere.

her prognosis:
no fractures.
no broken teeth.
{blood from possible tongue wound on water bowl. more than likely happened due to panic when paw became injured.}
antibiotics.
pain medication.
lots of limping.
stitches.
bandage.
follow-up visits.
try to avoid taking drugs for anxiety.

our prognosis:
wiping tears.
huge sigh of relief.
arguing over who 'gets to' feed the dog dinner.
9 yo sleeping in mom's room as to "not have jazzy sleep alone."
very empty pocketbook.  ouch.
investigate natural remedies to help jazz with nerves.
maybe for mom's, too. ;)

we ended the day with everyone {including jazz} watching marley and me, the puppy years.



think i may ask hubs if he wants to switch jobs for a week.