Another Stand-Off

On our walk tonight, I decided that we were going to go visit our neighbor.

She lives right over there.

So I decided to go visit, but sadly, that's as close as I got to her house. I stood there and stood there and stood there. Mom rudely refused to let me go visit because she "claimed" she had laundry and dishes to do.

I think maybe she knows that our neighbor is my favorite person...
   

Mischief Maker

Even though my blog has been a little quiet lately, please don't think that I haven't been up to mischief. You can rest assured that I have.

Last night, for example, Mom had trouble sleeping because I kept shredding papers under her bed.

And the other day we had some beautiful sunshine, so I kept acting like I had to go emergency potty outside. Did I have to potty? Noooo... I just wanted to sniff and sit in the sun!  (Mom was on to my antics after my second trip outside in an hour with no pottying going on.)

 
And my best mischief lately? Well, that was on Friday night. It was my neighbor's 80th birthday, so Mom and I went to visit her in the evening. While Mom was showing her something on her computer, I found a new toy to play with in my neighbor's bedroom.

I plucked and plucked at my new toy. Then Mom came looking for me.

Turns out it wasn't a toy that I was making little tooth holes in. It was a pair of my neighbor's underwear...
 
Oopsie.
 

Seizure Scare

Early, early, early on Thursday morning, I woke Mom up 'cause I didn't feel quite right. Turns out that I was having a seizure.

Mom took me to the emergency clinic, but I felt fine after we got there, so we turned around and came back home. Mom called my regular vet and they said I needed to come in for blood work and a once-over.

So we went to the vet yesterday morning. Mom didn't give me any breakfast (BOOO!) and the vet poked me with a needle (BOOOO!).

We got good news, though. The vet said that I'm o.k. and told Mom to just keep an eye on me. My blood work came back good, too. My liver enzymes are still way, way too high, but they're lower than they were last year. That was really great news!

Mom and I took it easy for the rest of the day. We went over to our neighbor's house and hung out on her patio. I love sitting in the sun puddles there!

My neighbor puts out toys, bully sticks, and milkbones for me. On a nice, cushy rug. There was a water bowl, too.

Did you see what her sign says?

"Dog friendly. Beware of owner." Our neighbor doesn't have a doggie...besides me, of course!

Good sun puddles after good news from the vet. Can't beat that!
 

Monkey Business

It was rainy and icky on Halloween, so Mom didn't take me trick-or-treating. She did make me wear my costume for a trial run, though.

This year I was a monkey.

The hood on the costume sorta gave me an instant eye lift. But, on the plus side, the costume came with a squeaky banana! That was FUN. Well, except for when Mom forced me to stop playing so she could take a picture...

Luckily for me, Mom's camera died at that point. So, she plugged it in to charge. When she did that, I started rolling on my squeaky banana and managed to roll myself completely out of my monkey costume!  Then, I attacked it and plucked that monkey fur like crazy.

Mom pulled the camera off of the charger and got this pic...then the camera died again.  He he he.

So on Friday I had another appointment at the vet. The vet wanted to see me again to see if my skin infection and allergies were better yet. Mom decided that I should be a monkey at the vet's office, so I went in costume.

It took five weeks of antibiotics and a month of steroids, but I beat that stupid infection! The vet said I was finally all better. In fact, she said that she'd never seen my skin looking so good! And of course the vet and all of the techs oohed and aahed over my costume. They even took pictures!

Then after a nasty shot in my hiney (I was overdue for something-or-other), we were back in the car to head home. When we got home, Mom made me a monkey yet again...

And then we were off to trick-or-treat at our favorite neighbor's house!

The hood didn't stay up long. I hated that thing.

Trick or treat!!!

When I went inside I checked out the goods. The blanket, "Princess" bowl of water, blue bowl of milkbones, and the bully sticks -- those are normally out for me. (My neighbor ROCKS.)

On this visit, though, my neighbor had a sack of toys out special for this trick-or-treating monkey!  I rolled on it. Just rolled and rolled on the entire sack.

I played for a little bit, then I announced to both Mom and my neighbor that I was DONE with the monkey costume.

I was sure a hit with the people at the vet's office and with the neighbor. Glad Halloween is over, though...enough of that monkey business!
 

Vet Visits and Blessings

I had to go back to the vet on Friday. It was a "recheck," but Mom knew my skin infection wasn't better yet.

The vet said Mom was right. Since the antibiotic upset my tummy so much, the vet gave me a new one instead. And she said to give me pepcid for my tummy. AND I need steroids now, too, to get better. Mom was counting down until we were done with those antibiotic pills...but now we have MORE pills for me to take instead of less! Yuck.

The vet also said I needed ointment for my ears since they're working on being on infected. And I got a yeast issue in my paw, so I need cream for that.

Mom says I'm just a hot little mess.

So when Mom and our neighbor were driving around yesterday, they saw this sign:

And they decided that I needed to get blessed. Now, Mom goes to a Methodist church and our neighbor goes to an Orthodox church. Pretty funny that they decided to take me to a Lutheran church for a blessing, huh?

A LOT of dogs were there to be blessed, though.

And some kitties. And a rabbit. And a gecko. And even a beta fish!

I pretty-much ignored everybody. That's how I roll.

Here's the pastor, starting the blessings.

My turn!

Mom asked for extra prayers and blessings for my health issues.

Here's us after my blessing! (Exposed belly = so embarrassing!)

After the blessing, I was pretty excited to go home. We got in our neighbor's car and I decided to drive.

She was knocking on the door, but I didn't unlock it for her.

I finally relented, of course. And when we got home, I played with my frog for a bit.

And then I actually ate a lot of my supper -- more than I have been eating.

Now, I should probably point out that I haven't eaten much lately, nor have I played much. So Mom says it's surprising that I did both of those things tonight. Was it the blessing or maybe the new meds?  Who knows. Mom says it doesn't matter what, just as long as I'm heading in the right direction now.

But I'm still embarrassed about that nekkid belly picture...
 

Turning 13 Years Old!

I'm a teenager now! I turned 13 years old on Sept. 18. Pretty cool, huh?

Mom woke me up in the morning by singing "Happy Birthday" to me.

I was a little grumpy, though, since it was so early.  Then Mom had the audacity to put a princess birthday hat on me. At least I got a present early. The card is from my awesome neighbor. The present is from Mom.

It was a cool princess card and a squeaky toy! I know I don't look too excited. I'm not a morning doggie.

When Mom got home from work, we had our supper and then we headed over to our neighbor's house.

At my neighbor's house, they had a birthday party for me!

See that red bed in the back? That's my main present from Mom and my neighbor. It's a fancy memory foam, pillow top, orthopedic doggie bed!  The blue rug is new for me, too. It's memory foam, too. And all of those bags...TOYS!

Mom tried to make me pose again with that stupid princess party hat, but I was NOT in the mood.

I tried to roll it off of me.

Once the hat was off, it was time to play with my new froggie toy.

Then it was time for cake! Mom ordered me a princess birthday cake from Lainey's Pawtique & Bakery.

Mom tried to make me pose with my cake.

I had enough of that, though, and started barking at her. "I WANT TO EAT CAKE!"

It was yummy in my tummy! Mom found some beef-flavored doggie ice cream to go with it.

My cake was pumpkin flavored, so Mom and my neighbor had pumpkin bars for humans while I ate my cake. We all ate on birthday plates, of course.

To top off my evening, I got a birthday Greenie.

I actually saved the Greenie for after Mom and I got back home to our house.

Then I covered my new, fancy dog bed with Greenie goo. HE HE HE

I'm a pretty lucky pup. This was an awesome birthday!