Sunday, December 28, 2008

She's a runner!

Oh Miss Sadie.

Sadie and I have had quite the holiday weekend!

First, I had to work REALLY late Christmas Eve. Poor Sadie was stuck in the house for about 16 hours until I got home at 1 A.M.! Then, I loaded her up in the car and we drove an hour and a half to my grandmother's - arriving at 3 a.m.

Christmas was nice, but she didn't like having to stay in her crate most of the day as Mom and I drove around to see a myriad of relatives.

I had to work about 6 hours Friday so I left early in the morning, taking Sadie with me because Mom is not a fan of such a "big" dog. Saturday morning, Sadie and I drove the hour and a half again to my grandmother's. She had to be crated while I went to the big family party.

Then, we drove another hour and a half to go to Dad's.

While there, Sadie got out of the yard - TWICE!

She found that a part of the fence is lower than the rest (the fence is the same height all around, but at this spot the ground is higher - weird, huh?) and jumped it with the greatest of ease. Next thing I know, I'm watching her run into the neighbor's pond. Yeah, that's right.

But wait ... it gets better!

So, I finally corral my wet, muddy dog by driving next to her in the car. She loves car rides so much that as soon as I opened the door she jumped in my lap. Blech.

I put her crate outside and had her stay in it until she dried.

Later in the day, my step brother, Jeff, and I took her outside but carefully guarded the weak spot in the fence. We watched, amazed as Sadie tried to corral the neighbor's horse!

It was beautiful and magical to watch. Sadie and the horse ran up and down the fence line. The horse's rhythmic hoofs pounding the ground, Sadie's joy at the chance to chase something so large radiating from her body.

As we watched, however, Jeff commented that Sadie was in the field with the horse! Suddenly, the horse was chasing Sadie.

"What happens if he catches her?" I asked Jeff, full of concern.

"Depends. He could easily trample her," came his drawling, cowboy response.

Jeff said there wasn't anything I could do but watch ... and pray.

Luckily, Sadie's attention span is worse than a 2-year-old's. She got through the slats in the horse's pasture and ran away - from the horse and our house. Jeff, ever the calm one, suggested I not run after her.

"She'll come back," he said, matter-of-factly.

Trying to act calm too, I join Jeff as we slowly walk around to the front yard (in the general direction of Sadie). I can't see her, but I can hear her crashing around in the neighbor's leaves. Then all of a sudden, nothing. Silence.

Worried, I look in the direction I last saw her. Nothing. I scan the horizon through scores of trees and see slight movement. I strain my eyes and see Sadie's head moving. But as I look, her movements seem weird. Suddenly, I realize what happened.

"She jumped in their pool!" I holler to Jeff. We both take off in the direction of the pool, and sure enough, Sadie is doing circular laps around it!

It was hilarious. Jeff and I both had to pause for a moment to get rid of the giggles. Because it was an above-ground pool (partially buried), the sides were really slick and Sadie couldn't get out. When she saw me, she kept trying to climb the side, but couldn't.

Jeff, bless him, just pushed up his sleeves, reached right into the water and yanked her out. He then dragged her all the way home and put her straight into her crate (again) to dry out (again).

Merry Christmas, Sadie! I hope you enjoyed your adventures!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Weekend wonders

Well, Sadie went with me to my dad's. We drove up yesterday and stayed the night.

She did surprisingly well in the car. Well, until she saw a man walking his dog at the truck stop and she went nuts. She ended up spilling my coffee everywhere - and then she licked it all up for me. She's so good about cleaning up her messes.

Sadie didn't do very well with Dad's dog, Quigley. He is a chihuahua/dachshund mix and started the drama in my opinion. He growled first! Anyway, there was a scene where the dogs had to be pulled off each other and we kept them separated the rest of the visit.

I've decided that Quigley must have reminded her of puppies and since her puppies hurt her, she feels aggressive towards puppies. Or, the father of her puppies was a dachshund and now she blames all dachshunds for her pain.



She loved the leaves in Dad's yard, but with her cough I wasn't cool with her spending too much time out side. Her tail opened up and started bleeding again, but they helped me bandage it - and she hasn't even really tried to tear it off!

Friday, December 5, 2008

Meds to make it better

Well, the animal shelter hooked me up with medicine for Sadie.

Apparently, you can give a dog cough syrup, too. But instead, we are giving her antibiotics and cough tablets.

She is just exhausted, poor thing.

But she took the pills well - buried in peanut butter.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Poor Sadie!

She is still having coughing fits ... after online research, I have decided she has kennel cough.

I am going to call the shelter in the morning - the cats could catch this and that would be awful!

Thank goodness tomorrow is a short day.
Maybe the Twizzlers weren't the best idea ...




But Kevin is such a smarty!!!

After listening to her sad hacking cough, Kevin suggested I feed her peanut butter - and thirty minutes later - STILL NO COUGH!!!

Yay!!!

Makes mouths happy



Sadie and I have decided to use Twizzlers to help her gain weight and me quit smoking.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Tuckered again

Sadie is sprawled across my pillow after yet another exciting day.

Christmas came a little early this evening - I bought Miss Sadie a bed for her kennel, a little plush toy and a big ham bone.

The bed she doesn't even know about yet and the plush toy was ignored in preference to the bone - which was devoured in less than 20 minutes.

Her tail is still bleeding - poor baby. She just wags it so much it will take awhile to heal.

We played fetch a lot this evening. She is pretty good too. She sits when I tell her to and then runs when the duck is thrown. Then, if she doesn't bring it right back to me, she comes on command.

What a good girl!

Lunch break

Well, I checked on Miss Sadie Mae during lunch and she is fine.

Hates being in the crate - took a lot of muscle to get her back in when I left - but she's fine.

Well, for the most part.

There is a sore on her tail that is bleeding. It's not a cut, exactly - it's a sore.

I have no idea how to handle this - do I bandage her tail and hope she doesn't chew it off? I am calling the shelter right now for advice. They probably think I'm worse than a new mother.

The cats aren't liking this much. When I came home, they were all in the garage. I'm sure her constant barking is driving them batty.

Fun times!

Sadie fetches!



... the duck helped me get her in the crate with very little effort, but she started crying as I walked out the door :(

Sweet dreams?

I'm not sure if dog's dream, but if they do, Sadie's were troubled.

She woke up a lot to make sure I was still there. Now, I am glad I chose to let her sleep with me instead of crating her last night. It just seemed so mean to put her in a little crate after she spent 3 weeks in the pound.

There were a few tense moments last night with one of my cats - a reenactment from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - and I was in the middle! Even Sadie growled a couple of times! But they got through it and all claimed a place on the bed through the night.

Sadie seems to be housebroken, which is a wonderful blessing - she waited until I woke up this morning to get all excited and run for the back door. Good girl!

She is pretty happy this morning and, let's face it, it's hard to be in a bad mood when such a smiley dog is near.

I am going to crate her while I am at work today - and she probably won't like that. I tried her in the crate last night while I fed the cats and she barked like crazy.

Also, Sadie farts. And sleeps with her behind by my head. Lovely.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Introducing Sadie

Sadie, Sadie pretty lady -

And she really is.

I met Sadie on Friday, Nov. 20, the day after I lost my Sheltie, Eddie.

Eddie dug out of the back yard and I was looking on the local animal shelter's Web site for his photo when I saw this adorable yellow Labrador. Her skinny stature called to me. The photo didn't show her face very well, but her protruding ribs stabbed me in the heart.

I met Sadie in person several days later when I visited the shelter, still looking for Eddie.

Several more days later, I spoke with the shelter's manager (all are on high-alert to help find Eddie) and asked her about Sadie. She said she recently had puppies and that it seems her previous owners let the puppies nurse on her too long and that she probably ran away to get away from the puppies. Then, I asked if there is a foster program and she said there is - and so an idea got stuck in my head.

After almost two weeks, Eddie still hasn't returned home - and I am now Sadie's foster mom.

She is sleeping next to me in bed right now. Skinny as a rail, tuckered out, but doing well.

The cats are dealing and she seems fine with them.

She has a blast in the back yard. It's clearly been awhile since she's been able to run around free and crash through leaves.

One funny anecdote: She took the biggest poop EVER, and like a cat, tried to cover it with dirt and leaves. She was still on the leash and I didn't quite understand what she was doing until I saw her foot hit the pile of poo and fling it ALL OVER ME.

She's such a classy lady, Sadie.