Getting Settled

Well, we’re here. It seemed like the longest travel day of my life, but we made it in to our new home Monday evening. So far, we’ve been on a crazy schedule, trying to get the things we need, forgetting a few items, and then going back to the store for the things we forgot, only to make it home and realize we need something else.

The dogs made it in today! They had an even longer travel schedule than we did, and honestly, I wouldn’t do that to them again. When they arrived, they were dehydrated and hadn’t been given hardly any of the food that we had packed with them. Their cages were filthy and smelly, and they were badly in need of a bath.

But as soon as they were let out into their big, new yard, they acted like the dogs we know and love. And when they reached the pool, without a second’s hesitation, Wrigley leaped in and started swimming!! They’ve never even seen a swimming pool before, much less had ever swam before, so I was certain I’d have to jump in the pool to rescue him. He paddled right to the side though and tried to lift himself out, but I had to pull him.

Not much later, Zoe did the same thing, and Wrigley repeated himself not long after that. We’re going to have to give them swimming lessons fast so they’ll know what to do if they jump in the pool and so we don’t have to fish them out every time.

I do think that they’ve been traumatized by the trip though…this evening when we put them to bed, they cried and howled and it broke our hearts to hear it, but we figure it’ll just take time for them to get used to their new home. It’s an incredible amount to take in at once for them, and I’m just hoping that they’ll make the transition quickly so they’re more comfortable. It’s times like these that make me want to let them in the bed with us, but I definitely wouldn’t want to make a habit of it, so I’ll let them adjust on their own time. Any tips from dog owners who moved & had a stressed out dog?

On top of their stress, Mike and I have quite a bit more stress at a close call we had this evening…apparently, some neighbor cats are used to coming and going as they please on our property. One very friendly cat happened to be inside the walls when the dogs were let out, and it was verrry close to becoming a heartbreaking mess we want to avoid like the plague. I mean, cats are fast and can jump high, but our dogs are hunters and we have no doubt would kill any cat that they came in contact with. It’s not a good feeling thinking we have to check the property for cats before we let the dogs out. Will the cats learn to stay out? I hope they do before it’s too late.

I’ll upload more pictures soon, I promise! Our internet isn’t connected yet, so we’re using our phones as a wireless hotspot, and pictures take foreeeverrr to load if they even load at all.

Drywall Devils

I’ve mentioned before that my dogs are very high-energy. I’ve also mentioned before that if they don’t get enough exercise/stimulation/attention that they eat drywall.

I’m not joking.

Today, while Mike was in the basement working out and while I was sleeping, the dogs did this:

Need a closer look?

Yeah. Our walls really are that dirty. Trust me, I’ve cleaned them many, many times but the dogs are determined to wipe their almost constantly dirty paws/faces/bodies all over the walls.

So. We have quite a hole in the wall. Not that this is the ONLY one in the house.

Both of these are on the same wall leading to our hallway.

That white area used to be covered by more molding. Ate that off.

And can you see that small strip of wall between the moldings? That’s actually a strip of cardboard used to cover this:

It’s MAJOR. Two feet in height major.

Majorly embarrassing to show you guys too, because seriously, our house has looked like this for a long. time.

We’ve spackled many other holes around the house that the dogs have created, including the one above. Doesn’t matter. They’ll pick a spot on the wall and go at it like there’s buried treasure underneath. No amount of “bitter” spray can hold them at bay.

Now, they don’t do this often. It’s rare anymore that they’ll chew at drywall and wood moldings, but…it still happens, like this morning.

And we have to fix it before we leave. So I’m gonna get my spackle and sander out and get to work.

Ugh. These dogs. Does anyone else’s dog tend to eat drywall?

Poor Wriggles

So much for scheduling posts and writing while we were tripping through the Midwest while visiting family. Oops. In my defense, we were pretty busy. Not much of a defense, but I’m back, nevertheless.

Anyway, when we went to pick up the dogs from the Best Friends kennel yesterday, I checked Wrigley’s eyes because he has always had very goopy eyes and I requested that the kennel check them and clean them when they needed to be cleaned. I specifically told the front desk THREE times to check his eyes regularly before I released the dogs to them to keep.

Well, Wrigley’s left eye looked AWFUL.

Some of the hair is missing, it’s a bit swollen, his skin is purple, and his eyes were extremely goopy.

I was NOT happy. I asked why this issue hadn’t concerned the people there at the kennel, and they said that because he already had eye issues, they thought it was normal. In the nearly three years that Wrigley has been alive, I’ve NEVER seen his eyes look like that, so I knew that it was abnormal. He’s also been a regular dog at this kennel…once every few months at least, and the kennel knows us and our dogs. I was extremely upset that this issue hadn’t given them the least bit of concern, but again, they repeated that since he already had eye issues, they didn’t think anything of it. Pardon me, but if a person specifically asks you to check their dog’s eyes, and then something WEIRD happens to the dog’s eye, it doesn’t give you a free pass–it probably means you weren’t cleaning the dog’s eyes enough.

Personally, I think that if a dog’s eye changes DRASTICALLY in the 6 days that you have him, a red flag or two should be raised. Maybe just a yellow flag. A flag of some color, right? I took him to the vet immediately, and it seems as if 1) they didn’t clear out his eyes often enough and 2) he has a dry eye issue, which is causing an overproduction of mucus. We had previously been told by the vet that since his eyes were just set back far in his head, THAT was the only issue and if we just cleaned out his eyes regularly, he’d be fine.

Now, it looks like it was something a bit bigger.

Wrigley has had medical issues since we brought him home from his rescuer (they were puppy mill dogs)–he has a pretty severe overbite, which caused his lower canines to puncture his upper soft pallet. He had to have both baby and both adult teeth removed.

Wrigley’s overbite (left) is pretty obvious in this photo of him as a 5 month old puppy

He’s had these eye issues as well, and the vet seems to think that his head just might not have developed quite right, and his tear ducts could be deformed, or just too small. It could mean a lot of eye drops in his lifetime. A lot. We have to wait 30 days to see how he responds to the eyedrops the vet gave us before we know how to proceed throughout his life.

And so I feel like I’ve been hit with a double-whammy here: my dog isn’t at top health, and the people who watch them while we’re out of town just aren’t giving him the attention and care that he needs.

It brings up a lot of fears about his future–will he be as healthy as Zoe? Will he live as long? Will we discover more issues later in his life? More presently, we are travelers. Will kenneling him be worse for his health? How can we find a kennel who will love him like we do without spending a fortune? Should we just spend a fortune because he’s our dog and we love him, and isn’t that better than the alternative of him getting sick?

They aren’t fun questions, and I’m primarily just concerned with how deep this issue is and how it will effect his future, as well as who to trust the dogs with while we’re traveling. In the meantime, he’s an extremely happy-go-lucky dog and doesn’t seem to be bothered by his issues, which makes me feel better. I think he’s still recovering though, because he’s definitely not as chipper as his usual self.

He’s a very special boy–he gets TWO pillows on the couch.

Hopefully once he sleeps off his excessive drowsiness (he’s always tired after a stay at the kennel) and his eye turns back to a better color, he’ll be back to normal. Poor guy.

For those of you with pets-do you leave them at a kennel while traveling? How did you choose your kennel & how happy are you with your experiences? I’ll be looking for another kennel to see if there are any better ones in this area. Leaving them with family/traveling with them isn’t a possibility and I’m afraid hiring someone to come and stay with them in our home would be too expensive. Any tips/advice/well wishes for poor little Wriggles?