My beautiful dog Flash "smiling" for the camera.

[Sarah]

Here are a few pictures from Bailey's memorial walk.







.

Eli...those puppys are great. Good luck with them all getting great homes.

As far as bulldog issues: Spanky has had:

Lower Eyelashs poke in his eye so he had entropian surgery (sp?).
Digital cysts between his toes that will go away but you have to soak his paw.
Sore spots in his wrinkle folds that have to be kept clean/dry.
His tail it tight so you always have to make sure his little butt is clean.

AND...they over heat very easily...just this past weekend I had to soak him in cold water in the tub for a long time before his breathing & tongue would get back to normal.

Let's see...he is also stocky, cute, funny, bossy, stubborn, and a crowd pleaser everywhere he goes.

[thrown_hammer]

Flash has absolutely no health issues except for the heat issue. Of course he is a mutant....

[thrown_hammer]

Speaking of mutants here he is! I took these last night.

Looks noble doesnt he?


Favorite passtime...eating firewood.


And old faithful...Tucker the Rottie.

[Sarah]

Shawn...those are good pictures. Flash the mutant bulldog makes me laugh! Plus...what a nice looking Rott.

[thrown_hammer]

Tucker is almost breed standard perfect. Just the little white patch on his chest is out of the standard. He is over 11 years old and spends most of the time "jacked up" on baby asparin.

Here are a couple more pics of the village idiot....

Flash the gazelle.


Flash in your face.

[speeder]

I just checked back on this thread and jumped on the last page. I was thinking, "That sure looks like the Lake Harriet Rose Gardens", (I grew up on Lk. Harriet), then I back-pedaled a page and confirmed it.

The Rose Gardens where my Brother was married in 1990, (then the entire wedding party walked back to our house), and where in 1991 we planted a tree in the Peace Garden across the street for my brother-in-law's Dad who was an Air Force pilot KIA when Andy, (B.I.L.), was only 2 yrs. old.

That is a very special place to us, Thank You so much for the pictures. Your dogs are really cute as well. Here is the obligatory Romeo picture:

[Sarah]

Flash seems like he has a funny personality.

Here is one of Spanky and Kota...This is not the "norm" ...Kota is usually bouncing off the walls...



Speeder...nice picture. I'm glad you liked the Lake Harriet shots. That was/is also my favorite place in the city. When I was younger...We spent a lot of time climbing trees, going in the fountains, having picnics, and sitting on top of the hill watching the planes fly over. What a nice memorial for your BIL's father to have planted a tree in his name. Here are a few more.

[juanbenae]

mcqueen in a tree at my folks house

[goat]

Dog in a tree!
No cats in your neighborhood ay!

[juanbenae]

sorry to post more than once, but less than serra, but im late to this thread.

here's mcqueen after being bit by a bee of some sort while camping.

his grill swelled so much the hair around his eyes fell out. it grew back but he had wild, crazy, hairless ring eyes for about 3 months.

[Sarah]

K911...i'm glad your dog survived the bee sting...sometimes they don't so that is great they recovered. Do they climb the tree going after a squirel or something or just likes to jump up there? That is funny. And post as many pics as you want...there are a lot of us who like seeing peoples pet pictures! S~

[juanbenae]

he was tied to the tree for bad behavior (jumping out of my parents dog run). he hoped up there by himself, i was not around i had left for an autocross and my girlfriend took the picture. lucky he was not hung had he fallen. hes unfixed (not you cliff) and its a challenge to keep him in the yard at times. he does not run off, he just likes being out front.

[Sarah]

Sounds like mcqueen finds the action out front more interesting.

Our lab mix Kota is just over a year and she has so much energy that sometimes we forget she is still a puppy. She gets bored easily and needs to be busy...She would take off if she had the chance. She has to explore and sniff everything...plus if she sees a bird or plane or anything take off fast...she feels the need to try to follow it. We gave her 2 chances to be off leash at the cabin...it didn't take long to realize that was not a good idea. She is so funny though...she currently reminds us of the Donkey character in Shrek2.

[Sarah]

Time for some new pictures:

Spanky taking Kota's new toy.



Car ride to the lake.



Spanky having a little water.



Spanky stalking a neighbor while they are doing their gardening.



Anyone have any new pictures??

[jrdavid68]

I can't seem to get over the guilt I feel for putting one of our pets to sleep (this is also a first for me). We made the decision to put the Schnauzer (10 years old) to sleep Tuesday night, 7/27/04. I spent some time with him and then was with him until the end.

My mother-in-law was re-married in '99 and sold her house so they could travel. We took Baron, her mini Schnauzer, in as they felt it would be too much for him, and them, if they took him along. They are now permanently settled on some property and when we discussed her taking him back, her response was adamantly "no" because he is too expensive and her advice has been to “just put him down”. She has not participated or contributed to his care since the day he came in to our home.

We had him for about five years. In that time we spent several thousand dollars for all kinds of issues. The current issue was with bladder stones. This happened late last year when he started to pee all over the house and we noticed blood. Did the surgery etc. and life went on. It wasn’t unusual for him to leave a spot in the house now and then, but it started to get out of control again and last week we took him in and had him tested and the stones were back. This is a common problem with the breed as they get older, his particular stones can't be treated with medication or food and we would most likely be going through this every six to twelve months.

Naturally, Baron had become a part of the family and it had become very difficult watching him go through this. Difficult as it was, we decided that it was time for all of this to stop. The part I am struggling with is that we could have thrown more money at the situation and he could still have had some quality life left. I realize that this would just be a band-aid but I can’t get over the guilt that a large part of the decision was economic on our part. Our vet even offered to do the surgery free if this was all because of an economic hard ship on us, which is not the case, but the offer gives some insight in to what kind of a vet we are fortunate to have.

In addition to the guilt, I am a little angry with my mother-in-law for putting us in this situation to begin with.

Sorry for the pity thread, that was not my intent - with all that is going on in the world right now, I realize that there are folks going through a lot more than I could ever imagine. However, just typing this up has helped and I know that the people reading this thread will understand.

If you think we should have handled this differently, I would welcome those comments.

Here’s a shot of the little guy and one of the “big” dog that misses him too:

[JeremyD]

jrdavid68 - sounds like you did the right thing -

I just had to do a similiar thing with two old dogs/family members that we had. It's heart wrenching.

Here's our new addition - Turbo

[Sarah]

Jr…so sorry to hear about your situation. That is a very difficult thing your family had to deal with. But don’t be hard on your selves…you did the right thing especially if a medical condition was diminishing the quality of life and not adding to it. When our Bailey had to be put down this past June it was very hard too because his spirits were up and his tail still wagging but we knew his kidneys failed and he would have passed away on his own in a couple days and we couldn’t stand to see him in so much pain. Guilt is a normal thing when we have the doubt of “is it too soon.” Hang in there….and try to think about all the happiness you all shared when your doggy was here. You’ll see them again someday and they’ll be happy and healthy and ready to play….take care….Sarah~

Jeremy...Turbo is very cute!. great picture!

[juanbenae]

its hard, really hard man. stay strong and remember him for the joy he provided your family when he was with you guys.

i got my 2nd lab, mcqueen the knuckle head in the tree a few post back while i still had my 1st one that was 12 years old. he was known far and wide as the best dog ever and went by Dog Dartis, or double D for short. friend of mine used to come by and take him out while i was at work. he was in my mind the best dog ever.

well he schooled mcqueen all propper like for micks 1st year. well at 12 as mick got older, fast, stronger and more physcial he began to beat the S out of DD. it was sad to watch him try to cope with mcqueens aggressive play. i had to put him down just shy of his 13 b-day, by far the hardest day of my life. i cried like a baby all weekend and still get a bit misty thinking of him. like now for an example.

best wishes to the family and i would recommend giving your yellow all the love the little guy would have gotten.

RIP Dog Dartis.

[juanbenae]

here is a shot of DD with a pig buddy of his...

[Sarah]

I still have a lot of great pictures of all my Sharpei that have passed away up in my office in addition to the bulldog and crazy lab mix. Most of the time the pictures make me smile...but other times I tear up that I don't have them anymore to hug, pudge and kiss their nose.

DD had a pig friend...omg...I've always wanted a pot belly pig and wondered if they would get along with dogs. My husband is afraid that someday I will actually get one. (he is probably right... )