Surgery

It has been awhile since I last wrote on this page. Rosie is as cute and bad as ever and Ron has been taking pictures. I have just been lazy. The real story in the dog population has been Daisy.

Sometimes Chessies have a body oil that can be kind of stinky. We experienced it with Bo, but Bo was a beautiful dog and it was not too bad. For the most part we just grinned and beared it.

Now Daisy is a different story. She is probably the sweetest dog we have ever had and very lovable. Actually, everyone loves Daisy. Even people who don't usually like big dogs. From the time we brought her home, she has had a distinct odor. First, Ron gave her a bath. You may remember from an earlier blog that we were afraid to bathe our first Chessie because we didn't want to ruin her coat. We embarrassed ourselves by asking a near stranger why she stunk only to be told she needed a bath.

After we bathed Daisy things got better for awhile, but then a really offensive odor developed. We kept wiping the liquid from her mouth, she drools a lot. That was not it. We cleaned her ears. That wasn't it. Ron gave her several sits baths. Finally he took her to the vet and they cleaned her anal glands-lovely. Things got better for awhile and we kept her mouth and ears in check.

The odor became unbearable. If she was outside, no big deal but when she is practically sitting on your lap-UGH!! We could not stand it. Ron decided that he would take her to the vet and ask to be taught how to clean anal sacs. If you would like more information on the cleaning of anal glands do a search on You Tube.) Ron advised me against posting the video on this blog. It was too much even for him. What a guy.

When he and Daisy walked into the vet's examination room, Dr. Glen smelled it right away. He told Ron that her anal glands should be removed. Without asking the price, he agreed immediately. We couldn't stand to be in the room with her and a long Minnesota winter is coming. We don't have the heart to leave a dog outside in this weather and we got her to cuddle with on those long winter days.

The next day Daisy's anal glands were removed and our bank account was consider

ably smaller. She came home with one of the new no bite collars on and she has been great! She doesn't run too much and she hasn't gone in the river. Luckily the weather has cooled off so it hasn't been too bad. Even more impressive she has put up with Rosie, who desparately wants to play and Ron and I aren't as much fun as Daisy.

Friday I took her for a check up. She is doing well and smells much better. Dr. Glenn thinks we may have to change her food because she does have a little odor from body oil. (He will have us feeding her raw chicken before he is done.) With a clean bill of health and an appointment to have the stitches removed on Saturday, Daisy and I headed for home.

She started whining as soon as we got in the car. Actually, she had whined all the way to the vets. She doesn't like the car that much and I just thought she missed Rosie. About half way home something stated to stink. No, it couldn't be. She could not have had a bowel movement in my car. I had her out before we went to the vet. I walked her around the vet's property before we went in. She must have just passed gas.

On my way home, I had to drive through the post office to mail some letters. I looked in the back seat. Oh my goodness, I have hit a new low. My sweet dog has had a bowel movement it my car. Of course, being a well behaved dog, she was extremely agitated. Fortunately, we live about a mile from the post office. I got her home. It was everywhere- on the seat, on the floor, on the kleenex box, on some ribbon and paper I had in my backseat.

I put Daisy in the kennel, got a bucket with Mr. Clean, some rubber gloves and a rag. I had the pleasure of scrubbing my back seat and thowing away a lot of things. When Ron got home, he gave it the sniff test. It passed. I got a gold star for cleaning up BM. It's like riding a bike once you know how to do it you never forget.

Dog Trainer

No this is not a picture of Cesar Millan star of tv's Dog Whisperer. This is Daisy, our dog trainer extraordinaire. If you have been reading the blog, you know that we have to tie Rosie up so she doesn't run into the neighbors' flowers or into the Mighty Mississippi.

Tonight Daisy took off into the yard with Rosie's plush bone. She went too far for Rosie to follow her. I felt it wasn't fair, so I put Rosie's leash on her and took her down to Daisy. The leash is mostly to give Ron and me a chance to catch her if she tries to escape.

I watched for a good half hour while Rosie chased Daisy around the yard. Daisy would run in one direction and then the next getting close to our property line but never crossing it. Rosie followed her lead and stayed in our yard.

Yes, stayed in our yard even though Ron was chatting with the neighbor. I'm sure he was telling him that Dave Genz was fishing in Ron's fishing hole this afternoon. Dave Genz in our backyard!

Father's Day with a Chessie

Happy Father's Day! Since we could not be with our kids today we did the next best thing. We spent most of the day with the dogs. It was a beautiful morning on the Mississippi. Ron and Daisy headed down to the river around 9:00 AM. If you click on the video below, you can see how much fun they had. Daisy loves to swim and play fetch in the water, but when she's done she's done. She takes her toys and goes home.

Nikki, one of our former Chessies, was never done; she would play forever. Even though Nikki only had a blaze orange training dummy, we would have to hide so she wouldn't collapse from exhaustion. Times have changed and dog toys come in a wider variety. Daisy has a colorful Loopie that Sara brought her from Chicago. Maybe that's why she is sure to take it when she's done.

Daisy steals the spotlight

Well Sara arrived as scheduled at 9:30 PM yesterday. I picked her up at MSP airport and brought her home. Ron had Papa Murphy's Pizza (veggie and pepperoni and cheese waiting.) The puppy was still awake and Sara was immediately smitten by her.

Even though, Sara is here and the puppy is as cute as can be. For a few minutes this morning, neither of them was the center of attention.

Living on the Mississippi, on the whole is wonderful - beautiful sunsets and sunrises, lots of birds, jumping fish, and sunning turtles. As with most things you have to take the good with the bad. At our house, the bad is the nasty Canada Goose and its droppings. (There we go with the BM again.)

Ron and I have tried everything to get rid of them. We purchased special chemicals used on golf courses and soccer fields to deter geese-they thought it was delicious. We put up an electric fence which worked for two summers, but last year they were just walking under it. I know you are probably thinking,"What about those wonderful bird hunting Chessies that you have sitting on your couch." All is can say is one day 70 pound Nikki and I went out to scare about a dozen geese. As Nikki started walking toward them. The guard goose took a couple steps in our direction. Nikki immediately backed up. I, who has a severe case of ornithophobia, had to stand on the patio waving my hands and screaming like a banshee to get rid of them. As for Bodie, he was handsome, proud, and a lover. The geese had his number immediately. He wouldn't even get off the couch when they were in the yard.

Now Daisy is no Nikki or Bodie and she is not having any geese in her yard. Actually she was really good about not chasing them out of the yard when the goslings were small. Today we had about ten in our yard and a few in the neighbors. I should mention that a couple weeks ago our neighbor fell and broke her ankle. Ron is convinced it was goose dropping that she slid on.

Sara and I went out with Daisy. The geese in our yard took off toward the river. Daisy took off toward the neighbors and got there in time to wrestle one of the geese. It looked like she grabbed it by the neck and rolled it over. We got a lesson in how soft the mouth of a good bird dog can be. The goose got up and took off for the river apparently unscathed. I have walked the shore and there is no sign of a dead or injured goose. Thank goodness!

The puppy had another good day. No accidents in the house. She and Daisy played fetch. She has no idea that Daisy has fifty-nine pounds on her, and Daisy has been very gentle.

Throughout the day we debated names: Rio, Wesley, Bodie, Max, and Rosie were given the most consideration. As of right now, we are calling her Rosie. We only know one other Rosie- she has curly hair and is a heck of a lot of fun. We hope the pup lives up to the name.