RIP Carson Pawmer Carman

We had to put Carson down tonight. He became so lifeless today that I didn't have a choice. It was horrible timing, but how do you control this. Jim was out of town, Jordan was at her mom's and it was church activities night. When I realized I needed help, I called my parents and they came to the rescue.

Mom took care of the girls - got them fed and to their activities.
Dad came to help me take Carson to the vet.

It was flat out horrible.

I will miss my boy terribly.

Why can't they live forever?

Carson having seizures again

Well Carson had some more seizures. Six to be exact in the last 24 hours. It started at 4am Thursday morning and went until 4am Friday. The last three were between 11pm and 4am. Ugh. Poor thing.

Rough day with puppy boy

So today has been rough again. Carson had a seizure at midnight. Jim and I quickly moved to get him bathed and us back into bed. He seemed fine the rest of the evening. We kept him in his crate and he rested well. This morning, he had three additional seizures all by 1:00 PM.

Now he's doped up on valium and on additional doses of medication hoping to break the clustering of seizures. I'm really scared.

Update from today: He's had six seizures today. Each one progressively makes him less steady on his feet. The last one was at 9:30 pm or so. We gave him some more valium and are praying he has a restful evening.

Seizures again

Last night was a bit rough for us. Carson fell asleep on the couch next to me and I woke up to him falling off the couch in a seizure. This was about 2:45 am. Ugh. The good thing is that it was relatively short and he seemed to come out of it easily.

Fast forward a bit - we bathed him and got him calmed down and went back to bed around 4:00 am. We invited him up in our bed. Of course he sleeps next to me on my pillow. He woke up at 5:00 am in another seizure. Ugh. Now we are freaked out. It was very short this time, but still it's scary.

So we got him settled down again and then, because he wouldn't stop whinning, we let him out. That's when our night got worse. He took off. Literally. Left our yard. We had forgotten to put back on his collar, but he's been outside without his collar before and never left. He's trained.

So Jim comes in the bedroom at 5:30 and says "I can't find Carson". Really!? I am not thinking it's a big deal yet, but after some quick looking, we realized that he was  just gone. And because he's never left before and his recent seizure, we have no idea what he'd do or where he'd go.

Jim walked our entire neighborhood looking for him in the blackness of night. Flashlight in one hand, phone in the other. Sigh. I stood outside the garage door from time to time with Sydney hoping he'd smell her or hear her and come home. Nothing.

By 6:30, we were freaked out. He had walked all the way down our street and our section. He walked down past my parents. No sight of him. I encouraged him to get into the car and start driving. Who know where he was at this point. It had been almost an hour. It's cold and dark out. The temps were low and the streets were iced over.

He took off and within 15 minutes, he had a phone call from a neighbor saying he was over off Nelson. Wow. He took a really good long walk. Jim found him prancing around. Thank God he was fine. Just wet mostly.

But he's home.

Her doggies

This morning, Carson would not leave the bathroom. He only does this stuff when "the boomies" are about, but this morning there were none. And, just for the record, that drives me completely insane. I can't close the door which means kids can be chaotic in my room. Sigh...

So after a ton of coaxing, I had to pull him out of the bathroom.

This troubled the little Maddy a bit and she let me know.

Next was the bedroom. He just flat out would not leave. Hmmm.
So I went to my last resort of pulling him out again. This angered Maddy and she told me so. She screamed at me and immediately started crying. It was awful. I was shocked.

Not only did it make me stop, it made me realize how much she was connected to them and how much she loved them. Wow.

I stopped and he left. Nice.

Climbing over the dogs

Maddy has always loved the dogs. Lately, she's started loving on them and also climbing over them. Sydney will be laying on the ground and Maddy will crawl over her multiple times like a jungle gym. It's hilarious. She'll do it with either dog and neither one of them seems to mind too much.

Kid is smart

Oh no... Maddy is too smart. She saw Jim and I giving the dogs commands today. Ya know - sit, down etc... She walked over to Carson and held her hand (palm up) to him. She, of course, could not speak to him. But he knew that he must obey. His look was priceless.

Sydney is getting better

Sydney is starting to get back to normal. Tonight was the first time she played with Reagan in a little while. She must be feeling better. She ran around the house with Reagan and played fetch for a bit. Reagan was in heaven. She missed her little buddy.

Sydney and Maddy's long night

Today started out pretty rough. Sydney started puking last night all over the floor. She puked five times before I went to bed. Because Maddy doesn't sleep well in her bed right now, she's in her bassinet. I pulled her into our bedroom with me about 11:00 pm.

She woke up at 3:00 am or so and wanted up. She had a 102 temp and she had pooped and was about ready to overflow. I was thankful she woke up. I went out into the living room to feed her some and Sydney had gotten sick again after we went to bed. While I was feeding Maddy, Sydney actually puked again right on the floor. That was gross. Just flemmy stuff all over the place.

I went back to bed with Maddy. In the morning, I walked out and she had puked again next to the couch - a lot. Then she puked again. She was lying on her side and had zero reaction to anything. I asked Jim to take her outside just in case she got sick again.

Thank goodness it was nice out. She was not doing well.

I took Reagan to school and Jim took her to the vet. We were told she might not make it. The vet thought she had a gastric ulcer that had burst and she was septic. He was really concerned about her. I figured it was a blocked intestine due to the contents of her puke. After a while, we called the vet and found out that she was slightly better off. She had swallowed a ring of Reagan's that perforated her colon. She was septic, but the vet felt she had a better prognosis. She will be in the ICU for a while, but she will hopefully recover.

I have been really frustrated with Sydney lately because of her meds. It's for her mastitis, but was making her crazy. Without it, she wouldn't be able to eat or move her jaws. As frustrated and irritated as I can get with her, I don't want her to die. Damn dog! I can't wait to see her today. I pray she pulls through this thing so I can love on her some more.

Sydney and Steroids

I came downstairs while putting the bambino in bed because I heard an awful noise (or lots of them). Sydney had decided that she was going to start eating through our pantry. She ate two packages of pop tarts and had pulled down a bin of all sorts of pastas. Not really sure what she ate, but chocolate was a part of the evening snack. Anyone want a dog? :)

Reagan's shadow

Everytime Reagan gets her bubbles (bubblesh) out, Sydney is right by her side. She will chase her around and eat all the bubbles that Reagan can blow out of the wand. It's so cute to watch them play together. Sydney loves following her around and will even play chase with her. Carson will get upset at her for chasing her at times which makes play time that much more fun to watch.

Water sprinkler fun for all

Today, we all got home about the same time. Jim went outside to start up the grill and then he turned on the sprinkler. That started the fun for the early part of the evening. I went outside with Reagan and she wanted to get down and play. She screamed until I put her down. She wanted to watch Sydney play in the sprinkler.

So we did. She eventually got in on the fun herself. She started running towards the sprinkler and then running away when the water came around. After about ten minutes of this fun, she got more daring. She ended up getting completely soaked (and so did I) from running into the sprinkler and running away when the water came towards her.

I finally got Jim to turn off the water... but it didn't stop there. Becuase she had fallen down quite a bit, she was covered in grass. She was walking around the yard, soaking wet (in a purple outfit) and covered in grass (that looked like green hair all over her). So we turned on the hose and then washed her off.

Apparently she loves water. She got in that puddle and played and played and played. Then she started copying Sydney - drinking from the faucet. I finally took a cute video of her and Sydney playing at the hose. She and Sydney at one point were drinking out of the faucet together.

What an awesome evening.

T(r)eeeets

Ok - I had to spell it somewhat correctly, but she doesn't say "treat"... she says "teet". Yep like a cow's thingy or something else, she says "teet". But what she means is the dog treats. She walks over to the "treat area", reaches for them and calls out that lovely word. We think it's hilarious. She loves to give both dogs one then two then three. I think the dogs are going to get fat.

What?

We think Sydney ate a burger tongiht. I bussed the table tonight after dinner and put the leftover burgers on the counter. Jim came upstairs when I was giving Reagan a bottle and said "how many burgers were left on the plate?" Hmmm... he said Sydney was looking at the counter and licking her chops when he walked in the kitchen. When he walked in, she turned around in a very guilty manner. Hmmmm

Zaaapppp

Ok folks - our doggies are now zapped. As guilty as I feel, it is really nice to finally have some serious control of our dogs. Both Carson and Sydney are fantastic dogs - they are mostly well mannered and very loving dogs. We have really enjoyed them and really couldn't complain too much about them. The quirky behaviors were just that - quirky - and didn't have a large impact on our daily lives. Carson LOVES to jump and steal and Sydney is the barker.

But in the last year, their quirky behaviors became more of an annoyance than anything and Jim and I finally gave up. Carson was stealing and chewing up Reagan's toys on a regular basis AND jumping on folks plus we were having trouble controlling Sydney's barking more often. Because of us both working and two kids, we decided to hire a local group to train them and sent them off to "boot camp" three days after my surgery.

Today was the BIG DAY! Carson and Sydney had been trained Thursday and Friday of last week, gotten the weekend off and then back in every day this week. Seven days! We met the trainers over at the Erlanger Day Care for some indoor demonstrations and to review how to work with them both. Because we had them "zap" trained, we had to know how to operate the collars and know the new commands.

At first, both dogs tried to come to "mommy" and "daddy" for rescuing. When that didn't work (over and over again), they settled down and into the mode of "training". Both dogs were impressive. Carson actually reminded me of how he was after he went through his advanced training years ago. Just so easy. Sydney struggled some, but she has some separation anxiety with Carson. (And I thought that only was a Reagan thing).

Once we went to the park, we were completely wowed! They now can walk completely off leash. Impressive. They didn't even try to "not" do it. They were trained. Sydney is definetly our stubborn girl. She does NOT want to do what you want her to do - she's bull headed. Carson gets it and just wants to please us.

So now we have some tools and we are to work with them this week. I don't think they are perfect. I still think that they will do some things we don't like, but we hope over time that they get mucho bettero!

I think the best is zapping Carson now when he tries to steal Reagan's toys. Poor thing.

Doggies are picky

I just have to document how picky our doggies are. Yesterday, Jim started the process of switching out their food - mixing another brand in with what we have left. So last night, we gave them their first bowl and they both scarfed it down. They then also started to whine and beg for more. WOW! I guess they liked it.

So this morning, I fed the dogs again. Carson and Sydney both immediately started eating - another big deal. But the funny thing was how picky Carson was. Carson was eating, but only the new food. He was taking bites out of his bowl and spitting out the "pellets" from the old food onto the floor. Woops.

Camera for pets

I think this would be hilarious to do. Too bad my dogs sit in a crate all day or I'd get them one.

http://www.perpetualkid.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3286

Don't take my cup

Tonight after we got home from the airport, Jim gave Reagan a cup out of the cabinet to play with. We discovered while we were on vacation that ordinary objects are much more fun than real toys. So in an effort to let her explore this idea, he put her down on the living room floor with a cup. Apparently Carson really wanted the cup too. He walked over and sniffed and left. He came back again and again sniffing more and more until he finally took the cup from her (oh so gently I might add).

She just had a puzzled look on her face. Not too bad. We got it back to her and watched the process all over again. Carson's curiosity got the better of him and he decided to take it again. This time Reagan resisted this effort. She tried so hard to hold on - her face looked so determined. But she failed. I don't think she was too happy.

So yes, we tried again and let her play with it this time. poor thing.

This is totally gross!

Ok. This is totally gross, so don't read any further if you have a weak stomach.

I picked my little bundle of joy up today at LRS before 5pm. As soon as she saw me, she started saying "ma ma ma mama" and waving her arms. She even tried to crawl towards me. Ok that's not the gross part.

Ms. Megan told me that she did have her afternoon nap, so I figured she would be taking one and Jim and I could workout. I scooted out the door and made our way home to our wonderful home where I knew two lovable doggies would be waiting for me to let them outside to pee and play. Again, not the gross part. It's coming. :)

When I walked through the door, I was smacked in the face with the smell of DOG POOP. Oh no...

Carson, our big lovey boy, had pooped all over his crate and also thrown up. Nice. It was everywhere. There I was, holding Reagan and trying not to vomit from the stench of poop! Let me tell you how absolutely grossed out I was and how hard it was to keep myself from puking all over.

I called Jim to say "umm what do I do" and figured I didn't have much choice. I put Reagan in front of the TV and changed my clothes to get ready to dive into the crate and clean it. First I had to get Carson out and not Sydney and then figure out how to keep Sydney from peeing in the house. I lined the floors with blankets and towels to keep the poop off the floor and opened the front door then his crate. He took off and immediately tried to poop again. Geeeeez.

The next task was to clean out the crate. Ugh. Ugh. Ick. Vomit! I put a mask on my face, grabbed the paper towels and a bag and dove in - literally. This crate is big enough that in order for me to clean the back of it, I must get in up to my backside (if I'm on all fours). Yea - can I tell you how much fun that is and was. I of course started at the front and moved my way to the back. As I went farther back, the poop got bigger and the stench got stronger. I think I threw up at least once in my mouth.

When I was done, I cleaned up, changed my clothes and burned everything! Just kidding. I did change my clothes though. :) Oh yea and I let Jim wash the dog. He he!

Walking the dog

Tonight, Jim and I took the doggies and the bb for a walk. It was really funny to see how the dogs reacted with me leading them and Jim taking the baby. I was trying to walk them out ahead of the stroller but neither dog wanted to be ahead of Jim and Reagan. They wanted to walk right next to the stroller. It took them a little while to relax on the walk. I have to say it was really cute to watch them be protective of the baby.