I'm Still Here...

...and I'm still CUTE!!!

Here is a picture to prove it:


Mommy started a new job last week, so she has been making excuses about why she can't help me type my blog. I tried to do it myself, but all I got was this:

dszknj po[pofesvd

I don't know what that means. Maybe I'm speaking in tongues! But anyway, I'll try to make Mommy help me out this weekend.

Bye for now!
Poppy the LBC

Walking in My New Sling

Look what Mommy made for me! It's a sling! That way I can practice walking without having somebody crawling around on the floor behind me holding up my butt. This is much more elegant. You probably can't tell, but my sling is made of very soft flannel that has little blue sheeps on it.



You can hear a lot of Mommy laughing in the background. This is because while I was in the middle of sniffing around, all of a sudden she had the urge to start singing: "High on a hill lived a lonely goad herd; lady-odle-lady-odle-lay-hee-hoo!!!" When she told Daddy this, he said, "huh?" She said, "You're not laughing because you don't know why it's funny. My sister would think it was funny." If you're not sure why it's funny either, I highly recommend that you rent "The Sound of Music."

Here is another video of me on my way out to breakfast this morning.



We went for bagels and we had just barely finished eating when it started raining again. When will it be spring???!!!

Bye for now!
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua

Uhhhg, Oooh, Ohhh

Oh, at swimming today I did a bad bad thing. I ate way WAY too many treats. Come to think of it, it actually wasn't my fault at all. Mommy and Daddy kept feeding them to me so that I would walk forward to get them. What were they thinking?! Now my TUMMY HURTS! I am trying to sleep it off in my Daddy's armpit.
I hope I feel better tomorrow.
Poppy the LBC

Movie Wednesday and My Cute Lifejacket

Since I didn't get any pictures or videos of me "swimming" on my first day of therapy, I thought I would show you some videos of how well I'm progressing in my recovery. After all, I don't have much else to blog about, since I can't go out adventuring right now.

This first movie is of me eating my dinner while STANDING UP! If you watch closely, you'll notice that I do not move my back feet at all. They were placed in this position by Mommy, and if I try to walk I might wobble and fall down. And my toes knuckle under. But see how well I'm holding my balance? And look how long I stand there using the muscles in my legs. Go me!



This movie is my very first EXERCISE VIDEO! I do sit-stands, squats, and stand-there-while-they-wave-my-butt-from-side-to-side; 10 reps each!



We went to water therapy again yesterday and this time Daddy came with us and took some pictures with his phone. They're not very good, but you can see how cute I am in my lifejacket! It went much better this time because they filled the tank more so it was more like floating than walking. The down side is that the more water they put in, the wetter I get!!! When I was all done I had major fluffy-butt.

All of these pictures were taken after the treadmill part was over. In this one, the vet tech (different one than last time) is trying to entice me to walk towards her with a treat.


In this one I have almost reached my goal: goo-stuffed crunchy junk food treat!

Yes! I got it!!!

Bye for now!
Poppy the LBC (not water dog)

An Award? For Me?

I was going to post two movies today, but blogger doesn't want to let me upload them. So Movie Monday will have to wait. I was bummed about this, but then I read my comments and saw that I have been given an award!!! It's a "You Make My Day Award" from Meeshka. I'm super-excited about this for two reasons: One, Meeshka is a very pretty brown and white dog, and I dig very pretty brown and white dogs. Two, the flowers on the award look kind of like Icelandic POPPIES! Here it is:
I think I should pass this award on. Oh, there are so many dogs who Make My Day! Today though, I am definitely going to pass this award along to The Brat Pack. They have had some sad times recently. Getting an award makes me feel happy, and I hope it does the same for them! :)

Also, some dogs have been talking about their favorite song and other stuff like that. I would love to share my favorite song with all of you! There are actually several, but most of them are ones Mommy sings to me, and since she is not an officially signed recording artist, I will not include those ones! :) Here is my top three countdown:

3) "I Love My Dog" by Cat Stevens
The title says it all, right? But wait til you hear these lyrics: "I love my dog as much as I love you. But you may fade, my dog will always come through." Terrific, right? Yeah, I know he's named after a CAT, but give him a chance, okay?

2) "Dixie the Tiny Dog" by Peter Himmelman
The version we have is on KFOG’s Acoustic Sunrise CD. It's also on one of his regular albums though. It’s about a weinerdog, but “the Germanic term is dachshund and I like that.” It’s really a must-hear!

1) "I Love My Dog" by Larry Brown
This is a song that you can only hear, I believe, on the “Dog Tales” TV series. Go to their website and watch one of the shows and listen for it. Larry Brown is a lyrical genius. Listen to this: “I love my dog, love my dog, love my dog, love my dog.” That’s pretty much all there is to it. Told you. Lyrical genius. The simplicity of it is beautiful!

Bye for now,
Poppy Dog

I am Not a Water Dog

Well, I had my first physical therapy session yesterday. It was okay at first because the vet tech lady sat on the floor with me and gave me lots of treats. That was cool! But then, the unthinkable happened. She picked me up and together we got into this big metal box! And then water started to come in!!! It wasn't very deep, but still, water is water. And I hate water!

Here is a picture of the big metal water box:
It is made for very big doggies--not for chihuahuas! Mommy and I thought maybe they would have a mini table-top version for wee little dogs. But, alas, no. I guess this is what the ideal patient would look like:
The water is almost up to his neck to give him some buoyancy and he is just happily walking along with a toy in his mouth. Give me a break! As soon as she lowered me into the water I spread my legs out wide and stretched my toes out into the classic "flying chihuahua" posture to try to slow my descent into the drink. It didn't work. Luckily, the water only came up about this high on me:

It think that's because it was my first time. The problem is, with the water only that high, it doesn't give me any buoyancy--only resistance for my legs. And with my legs as weak as they are right now, I don't need resistance, I need flotation! Mommy thought the water should have been higher. Maybe next time.

If you think a metal box filled with water is bad, wait until you hear what happened next: the floor started to move!!!!! The vet tech lady was sitting behind me on a little bench and she kept trying to push me forward and make my back legs move. The problem was that I didn't want to move my front legs either! Mommy had to hook me up to a leash and pull me from the front. But what that really involved was her standing on a stool and throwing herself over the side of the infernal machine in order to be able to pull me towards the front. If she just stood on the outside and pulled the leash, it was just pulling me straight up into the air! See--I told you this machine was not made for small dogs!

I have to go back again every Tuesday and Thursday for the next five weeks. Valentine's Day is my last session. Let's hope I learn to walk by then!

Bye for now!
Poppy

Pee Ess: Sorry I didn't take any pictures. Mommy was too busy feeding me treats and trying to convince me that it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Plus, it would have been weird to take a picture of a stranger in her bathing suit! :)

Sunday Afternoon at the Movies

Welcome to Poppy's Matinee Performance of:

There's Something In My Kong That I Want



As you can see, I am still on bed rest. I am getting antsy! I want to try to walk around, but I'm not allowed! I get my staples out on Tuesday. I also have a rehab consultation. I got a lifejacket just in case they want me to SWIM or something. It's pink with polka dots. I'm not usually into pink, but it was the only one they had in my size (XS).

Mommy misses how I used to dig the covers into position before bed each night. I have a hard time doing it right now because my legs are still all funny. I am trying very hard to get better though. I can hold on to my pee now. When I have to go I try to get up, and then they know it's potty time. They take me to my box and put me in and I go all by myself. No more bladder squeezing. Yay! But they still have to hold my bottom up, because I can't stand up on my own quite yet. Daddy thinks I will someday. Mommy has good days and bad days. We're going to try to make today a good one!

Bye for now!
Poppy the LBC