Saturday, November 24, 2007

Turkey Day

Lots of play time (Mingo, Roxy, Lizzie)
Roxy chasing Lizzie
Lots of football watching

We hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. We spent ours at Mark's parent's house in Cross Plains. Although we traditionally have a large lunchtime meal, I think we had our big meal when everyone else in the state had it...AFTER THE PACKER GAME!
Sam, Mark and Abby playing ball

The meal was outstanding, as usual. I'm not just saying this to be a brown-noser, but my mother-in-law is really a phenomenal cook. I'm doubly lucky because Mark is such a fantastic cook too (he was in charge of preparing the bird this year).
Judy preparing the meal

Mingo sports his blaze orange vest

We spent the day with Mark's parents (Van and Judy), his godparents (Oscar and Karen), and his brother and future sister-in-law (Greg and Renee). Of course we all had our hounds with us too, for a total of 5 in the pack. The dogs had a great day, with 2 walks, a special dinner and ham bones. The three young ones (Lizzie, Mingo and Roxy) wrestled quite a bit and the two older ones (Greg's dogs, Abby and Sam) sat and received lots of pets and attention from the more sedentary people folk.
Fall fashionsSamOscar and Van Mark lounges with Lizzie and RoxyDinner

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!



Mark and I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family! We are thankful for having all of you in our lives...

Friday, November 9, 2007

Don't be fooled, this halo is not adorned by an angel...

Not an angel

Well, I think we all knew that it was just a matter of time for Roxy, our 8 month-old Llewellin Setter to do some sort of bodily harm to herself. She is a pistol, obstinate and energetic. This is a perfect recipe for an accident waiting to happen.

Tuesday evening I was at a class until 7:00 pm and Mark was home making dinner. Mark let the dogs out to go to the bathroom. Mingo stays in the yard ever since he somehow managed to wrap his tail around a tree (yeah, we still haven't figured that one out), but Roxy scampers up into the woods behind our house and does her poopin' duties up on the hill. Mark called the hounds back in, and they both returned without incident. Mark then went upstairs to finish dinner and about 45 minutes or so later I came home.

Sympathy?
I knew something was wrong when only Mingo greeted me at the door; but I just figured Roxy was in a room that she shouldn't be in or chewing something she shouldn't chew (such as the pocket of my new North Face jacket which she wrecked the night before). Much to my surprise, Roxy slowly came out of Mingo's kennel. When I went to pet her, she starting crying and shaking uncontrollably. For good reason: She had what looked like a huge gash on her front right side (bad enough where you could see the meat).
Caving in to cuddles on the couch!

Roxy had impaled herself on either a tree branch or stick in the woods when she went to the bathroom. The vet was absolutely amazed that Roxy had not punctured a lung or had not damaged internal organs, as the stick went in 2 inches and then down her side another 5 inches! The vet also couldn't believe Roxy's "toughness" when being examined before any pain medication was given to her (Roxy looked worried but was calm and hardly whimpered).
Gross

Mark and I couldn't believe it either. We knew she could tolerate a lot, especially when compared to Mingo...but it was hard to think that she would just come running in from outside, like she normally does, and just kind of "hang out" until we noticed. Oddly enough, an injury of this magnitude did not cause a lot of bleeding for there was no blood whatsoever on our carpet and only a couple spots on the bed in the kennel.
Roxy eating

Although our checking account would beg to differ (hello emergency vet care!), this could have been much worse. Little Fox Rox could have been killed! For the next 10-14 days we have to keep her and Mingo separated, she can only have limited exercise, she has to take pills, and she has to wear this darn clown collar...which she has already started to chew through! This is going to be a long 2 weeks for all of us!Concerned Mr. Britches