Goodbye Vacations, Hello Fall

Hi everybody! I had two great vacations in a row! The first vacation was to Mendocino, which was very picturesque, as promised. We stayed at the Inn at Schoolhouse Creek, which was SO dog-friendly! Dogs are allowed everywhere except the main house during breakfast. When we arrived, I peed in the Pooch Parking area:

After we got settled, we set off to explore the town. It was all foggy, as can be expected on the California coast. I was prepared with my fleece lined rain jacket. We had dinner at a cafe in town. They had a big deck outside with lots of heat lamps. Mommy and I were nice and cozy under the lamps, and Daddy was sweating! This was our appetizer:

The next day we went to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. It was really pretty and they allow dogs! We expected it to be foggy again, but it was actually really sunny and warm. I did a pretty good pose on this bench, don't you think?
Later that day we went to Big River Beach, which is where the Big River meets the Pacific Ocean, and had a picnic lunch. The Inn has its own private little beach called Buckhorn Cove, but you had to walk down the shoulder of the highway and then down a poison oak-infested path to reach it. No thanks! So we went to this huge beach instead. This was only the first day off of my official six-week crate rest, so I wasn't allowed to run and play all crazy-like. Daddy walked with me a little bit, but I tried to run the whole time! My legs were moving fast and my ears were slicked back, so I must have been runing, right? Mommy says I wasn't because Daddy was holding me back on the leash. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea for my back. I had to have a drink after that:
Boy, was I tired that night! When we're on vacation, I never get to take my mid-day naps, so no matter what we do, I'm always tired at the end of the day. I dug this little pile of covers on our bed all by myself:

The next morning we checked out of our Inn and went to another place for breakfast. It's called The Ravens and it's at the Stanford Inn, which is also very dog-friendly, by the way. We might stay there next time. It is a vegetarian restaurant, and the only restaurant in all of California that allows dogs inside to eat!!! I hope I didn't convince them to change their policy...as soon as we walked in the door, I squatted down and started to have a poop right in front of the front desk. Heh heh, oops. Mommy quickly took me outside, where the poop actually fell out, luckily. Anyway, they did let us inside after I was done! This is a picture of the dog dining room. Nobody was there because we were pretty much their last breakfast reservation. But you can see the hotel's dogs, Murphy and Gypsy. They were there to keep us company!

After breakfast we walked around the Stanford Inn's gardens. There were lots of good things to smell. I'm wearing my new coat in this picture. I actually didn't wear it the whole time because once we got there, Mommy realized that she hadn't made a hole in it for my leash. I think all coats for little dogs should have the hole pre-made right where the harness would be. Some of them have a hole at the neckline for the leash to attach to the collar, but I don't wear a leash attached to my collar. Little dogs often have problems with their tracheas. It's safer to wear a harness! But I think you can see how pretty my new coat is anyway:
Mendocino was really fun, and the whole town was super dog-friendly. We were home for only a couple of days before our next vacation, camping in Lake Tahoe!!!

We went to Emerald Bay State Park and camped for three nights in our gigantic tent! Daddy got a new warm weather sleeping bag that has an expandable zipper section. He got it specifically so that I can fit better inside with him. At first it didn't smell right to me and I didn't want to go inside. After quite a bit of coaxing, I finally tried it the second night. I approve, as you can see. And why won't Mommy stop taking pictures while I'm trying to sleep?!

We went on a great hike to Granite Lake. I got to ride in my orange backpack because I'm still not healed enough for real hiking. But I like to ride too, so it's okay. We met several people on the trail who remarked on how cute I am and how they wish their dog would ride like me!

On our last day there, we went to Kiva Beach, which is the dog beach in south shore. I didn't have any sunscreen on, so we tried to stay in the shade. I spent much of the time in my rightful place on top of Daddy:

I had TWO great vacations, and now this week Mommy has to go back to work. We sure will miss this summer. Even though Mommy has always been a teacher, this is actually the first summer she has taken off! Usually she does summer school or summer camps or something. I was very lucky to have so much time with her, especially since I had to have an unexpected back surgery. This year her teaching schedule is a teeny bit better than last year, so I hope we have more time together every day. I am such a lucky Poo!

Bye for now,
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua

Pee Ess:
Later this week I will do a post about an "Oops I Ate It" award I got and and also about how I got my name. :) And I'm also going to enter the "ear"resistable ears contest!

Lunch Time!

My recovery is going really well. The problem is that I feel so good that I want to get up and run around! That would be very bad for my back though. I have three more weeks of crate rest to go. :(

This picture was taken six days after my surgery. Look at me standing up!
Later that same day Mommy and Daddy decided to take me out for lunch to Chipotle. I love this place because they always feed me beans if I ask nicely! I sat in my carrier during lunch so I wouldn't wiggle around too much and fall off the chair. It was pretty comfy!


And if you want to be really impressed, check out this video of my first post-surgery walk six days after surgery:

I can actually walk without my sling, but I'm not supposed to. Sometimes I walk around the living room just a little bit. But really I want to run and play!!! Being relaxed is soooo hard!

Bye for now!
Poppy the LBC

My Sense of Drama is Highly Developed

Hi friends,

As you can see, I'm still resting and recuperating from my back surgery. Sometimes I am restless and really want to get up and move around, and sometimes I am very sleepy, like this:
Mommy put a camping mattress on the floor so she could rest next to me. It puts her in the perfect position to rub my head constantly. Yay!

Last night Daddy noticed that it is really swollen along my back where the incision is. It's probably a seroma, which they told us could happen. It's supposedly not bad, but Mommy hates it and wishes it would go away! They are putting warm stuff on my back to help it feel better, like this warm washcloth in a plastic bag:

I am starting to feel more feisty and have taken to screaming any time someone tries to pick me up. Mommy and Daddy do not appreciate this; I'm not sure why. After all, when I scream, I usually get what I want! I'm not really in more pain now...it's just that I tend to be a little bit overdramatic. For example, the other day when Mommy said, "Poppy, do you want to go out?" I stood up and walked across the bed to her before she even knew what was happening--and no screaming at all! Of course, they didn't tell me that we were going to the v-e-t to get my sticky fentanyl patch removed!

I am really excited because tonight I might get to go out to dinner and see my long lost Uncle DJ, who I haven't seen in over six months! He is the one who doggysat me when Mommy and Daddy had to go to Cirque du Soleil after my last back surgery. Oh, I am excited!

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

Recovery, the Sequel

Hi Friends!

I am feeling pretty okay after my back surgery. Mommy and Daddy are really pleased because I am already way ahead of where I was in my recovery last time. Maybe even a whole week ahead, and it's probably because they caught it early this time. I can already be picked up and put down without screaming. And I can move my back legs and tail a little too!!!

Mostly I am feeling a little sad and am spending a lot of time resting in my bed:
I'm on pain meds and also a sedative, which is helping to keep me relaxed. I moan a lot, and the only thing that makes me stop is being close to Mommy and Daddy. I put my paw like this in her hand all by myself:

Yesterday morning Mommy took me outside to watch Daddy while he watered the garden and I was really happy to be out there looking around and smelling everything! I didn't moan or whine at all! I had such a good time, in fact, that they decided to take me out to a birthday party! This party is a yearly summer event for Mommy and Daddy's close friends' kids. They've been looking forward to going for a month now, and they were sad that they were going to have to miss it. But after I had such a good time outside in the back yard, they thought maybe they would take me--just for an hour or two.

So we packed up my pee pads and my stroller and my blankie and hit the road! I really did enjoy that party, even though I ended up moaning the whole time. It wasn't because I was in pain though--it was because I wasn't allowed to do anything! I had to just sit there and rest. But it was awesome because I got to see some of my best friends and everybody said, "oh, poor Poppy" and gave me gentle pets. And I really loved having some fun things to see and smell. (By the way, please excuse Mommy's slipper foot--she had toe surgery last week and this is the only shoe she can wear!)
It was fun, and boy was I tired when I got home!

Last night Mommy made me a treat Kong with crunchy foods and frozen peanut butter. I licked my way through the peanut butter, but I wasn't about to be tricked into eating crunchy foods at a time like this! It's wet treats all the way for me!



Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

Resting and Relaxing

Hello Friends! I haven't been doing anything exciting lately because Mommy has been busy with end-of-school-year stuff at work, and then she had foot surgery. Eek! So we've been recovering.

But the rest of my summer promises to be filled with fun and family! We have a couple of fun camping weekends planned for after Mommy's foot is better. In the meantime, I am keeping busy with a rigorous schedule of sleeping, snuggling, eating, and playing...in that order.


Bye for now!
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua

I'm Feeling Fine

Other than the fact that Mommy just brushed my teeth, which I don't really like very much, I'm feeling pretty good! My big esophagus has gotten a little smaller, and I hope it will get even smaller still. I'll have some more x-rays soon and Dr. D will tell me if I'm all better.

In the meantime, I get to eat wet food all the time! Woo hoo! Hence the aggressive tooth-brushing, which is the only downside as far as I can tell. Oh wait...there is one other downside. Farts! I never used to fart at all. Now I do these SBDs (Silent But Deadly) and sometimes I have to smell my own butt afterwords to make sure it actually came out of me. It did.

I have gone on a couple of good walks this week in between rain storms. The other day I found a big branch at the park and I climbed inside it. Somebody must have peed on it, because it smelled really interesting.


This is an action shot of me on my weekend walk:


And now, Movie Monday! I know it's not really Monday, but today is the first day of the week for Mommy, who had Monday and Tuesday off. So it's kind of like Monday, but even better! This is a video of me plaing Bitey Face with Daddy. And then at the end I do some of my tricks: sit, down, spin, shake, gimme five, and prairie dog.



Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

Pee Ess: IVDD stands for InterVertebral Disc Disease.

UPDATE-2/19/09: I do not have megaesophagus! It was only temporary!!! Woo hoooooo!

Lazy Week

Hi everybody!

We are having a lazy week around here. Daddy is taking some time off before he starts a new job, and Mommy is enjoying her new, more relaxed schedule as well. As for me, well, I'm always relaxed!


Although I did hear some disturbing news this morning. Mommy was on the phone TWICE with both of my V-E-T-S making TWO appointments for me! One for a back checkup, and one for a regular checkup and vaccine. I may have to join the Doggy Protection Program to get out of this one! Shall I relocate to Mexico, the original land of My People (and home of Lorenza, of course)?

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

The Bunny Hop

Mommy and Daddy haven't been taking a lot of pictures of me lately because the card in our camera broke. They have a new one now, and I have been promised a full photo shoot when my new sweater comes in the mail.

And where is that new sweater anyway? Mommy ordered it a week and a half ago! I want, I want! Maybe it will come tomorrow. I'll keep my paws crossed.

We went to the park the other day to practice my walking. The vets said I'm supposed to practice walking slowly uphill to help strengthen my back legs. Well, I'm not really sure how to walk slowly. As you can see in the video, I'm kind of running pretty fast. Daddy was doing his best to hold me back, but it really doesn't matter. I just bunny hop my legs along and pull like a sled dog. Even if I'm not getting anywhere, I like to get there fast!



Bye for now!
Poppy the LBC

I Hit the Mother Lode!!!

I had a busy weekend. We ran errands (I love errands), which I am finally allowed to go on again. And then on Sunday we went for a bike ride out to the baylands. We stopped for a while and I was allowed to get out of my basket to practice walking around a bit. I did well, don't you think?



Guess what I found while I was walking around. Grass! Huge grass that was as high as an elephant's eye. Or a chihuahua's eye. Or something like that. It was like a smorgasbord!



I haven't gotten to eat grass in soooooooo long because I've been on "crate rest." Now that I can go outside again I am thrilled to see that the grass is still out there, waiting for me to eat it!

Bye for now!
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua

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)

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

Yesterday I Did Something SuperFun

Not to repeat myself or anything, but yesterday I did something Super Fun! I went strollering at the mall! To help me stay happy and alert while I'm recovering from my surgery, Mommy and Daddy bought me this Chariot:

They call it a "stroller," but I think it's really a chariot. We went out to this really dog-friendly mall yesterday to do some post-Christmas exchanging, and I got to come in my new chariot! I got to go into all the stores, including, but not limited to, the underwear store and the kitchen store. I felt so cool. I accidentally peed while we were in the kitchen store, but I was sitting on a bunch of pee pads, so it was okay.

Since I had so much fun yesterday, I got to go out again this evening for a chariot ride through the neighborhood. It is nice to be out again. I hope someday that I can walk all by myself again. I start physical therapy in a couple of weeks after I get my staples out.

Recovery Update:
Today I wagged my tail! Mommy and Daddy went out to lunch and left me home for two hours by myself. When they got home they picked me up and I kissed their faces and WAGGED MY TAIL for the first time since my injury!!! Mommy's Mood-o-Meter: HOPEFULLY OPTIMISTIC

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

Pee Ess: My new year's resolution is to start labeling my posts. And also to walk again.