Happy 9th Birthday Brutus and Rufus

Its been awhile since I have posted anything about my crew so I thought I’d let you all know how things have been going.  Brutus, Rufus and Apollo celebrated their 9th birthdays in January. 9 is not a big milestone for a Labrador  but for a Saint Bernard its HUGE.  The average life span of a Saint Bernard is 8-10 years and I have been blessed to make it to the 9 year mark.  I’m hoping for a lot more time.  I ordered a big bone birthday cake from Three Dog Bakery Columbus and as always they made the most amazing cake for the boys.  When I called in and gave their names for the cake, the owner recognized them immediately.  She says… “OOOOH, I know them, the Saint Bernards” – totally made my day!

The boys enjoying their yummy cake! Rufus’s legs are so gross… he’s likes to groom himself, alot.  As he’s gotten older and a little arthritis has set in, keeping him clean and white is a challenge.  They both go to the groomer once a month for a bath and brush and I wash his legs in the tub once a week.  Of course he was due for a bath when I took his bday pictures.  Oh well, Saint Bernards are alot of work.  If you are considering getting one, please read – Is a St Bernard Right for you that I wrote a few months ago.

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Let's Talk: It's Your Dog's Birthday Party -- How Big Do You Go?

This Friday, June 8 (or thereabouts), my dog, Jake, will be turning 10. It's bittersweet, this change to two-digit age. It seems like he just walked in our door as a 6-month-old foster puppy rescued from a shelter, and now he's considered well into his senior-citizenhood -- or, to be polite, he's an "older" dog.

Some people appear very surprised to hear his age. "Almost 10! He seems like a puppy!" they exclaim as they watch him zooming past at the beach, or rolling on his back in a grassy park meadow. Maybe they're just being kind, ignoring the lipomas that make him a bit lumpy and craggy-looking depending on the angle. Still, it warms my heart to think this guy can pass for a puppy, or that it's not so ridiculous for people to say that, even if they're being nice. Now if we can only get him those 11 more years of life most Labrador puppies will have.

Puppy or old dog? It's in the eye - and heart - of the beholder.

Jake's birthdays have always been pretty low-key. We usually make a turkey-burger layer cake with mashed-potato frosting, and invite one of his canine pals over to have a slice or two. There are the inevitable candles one of the humans in attendance blows out, and we all clap as if Jake blew them out.

Sometimes we don silly party hats, and once he joined his friend Bella at a San Francisco sidewalk cafe. The humans ate a tasty dinner, and the dogs shared the cake. Well, Jake kind of dove right in while the diminutive, ladylike Bella looked on in dismay at his manners, as you can see.

We usually slice his turkey burger and mashed potato cake, and dole it out over the week. But Jake just dug right in, in front of the horrorstruck Bella.

The rest of my family isn't huge on birthday celebrations, so we keep Jake's similarly mellow. But an acquaintance who lives in a chichi part of San Francisco couldn't believe that a dog lover like me wouldn't go all out for Jake's birthday -- especially for his forthcoming decade mark. "Jake will not ever see another decade celebration," she said, shaking her blond bob in a "you will regret this one day" fashion.

She told me about a doggy party planner who made her little terrier's seventh birthday a "smash hit." She gushed about the event. "Sabrina had twenty of her best doggy friends at the park, and it was the most magical, fun party you've ever seen! Everyone came in costume!" Er, I guess Jake's invite got lost in the mail ...

This woman is not alone in her high-end doggy birthday bashes. Some dogs-only doggy bakeries welcome fancy pooch parties, and serve tasty morsels on tables topped with crisp white tablecloths. And dog party planners are starting to become less rare. Some will even arrange for a limo ride for Fifi and all her furry friends.

Puppy dogs wearing party hats by Shutterstock.com.

That's not my style. But if you want to go all out for your dog, there's no harm in that. If it makes you happy, it'll probably make your dog happy. (Although not too many dogs in my circle care about starched white tablecloths ...)

So we ask: How do you celebrate your dog's birthday? Do you even acknowledge it? Do you have a mellow celebration or a major fete? And, just curious: What kind of celebration would you have for Jake's 10th birthday, if he were your dog? Let us know in the comments! 

Jake photos by Maria Goodavage.

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Happy 8th Birthday Brutus and Rufus

Its so hard to believe the boys are now 8 year old seniors.  Although they are starting to slow down, they are still in pretty good shape.  They have very little grey on their faces, they still run around and wrestle with each other like pups.  They enjoy chewing bones and playing with their toys.

Their birthday marks the passage of time and reflection on all the good times I have had with them.  I try not to make it too big of a deal because I know that there won’t be many more birthdays for them.  The average life span (depending on what source you look at) is usually only 8-10 years.  It makes me sad that we get such a short time with our big guys compared to other breeds.  But I wouldn’t trade a single day with them for the world.  They have made me so happy and in the immortal words of Jerry Maguire… “You (Brutus and Rufus) complete me!”

Happy Birthday Boys!

I got their birthday cake from Three Dogs Bakery again.  Its a peanutbutter cake with peanutbutter cream cheese frosting and a “crowd” favorite.

  

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Happy 12th Birthday, Riker!

Twelve years ago Riker was the puppy no one wanted.

Riker’s father was a multi-Best in Show winning dog, and for a couple of years was the most winning dog in the country. Unfortunately, Riker was not show quality and all the other puppies found homes before he did. So, when his breeder was slated to attend an event that many of Australian Shepherd folks were attending, she brought this black tri ball of fur with her.

Paul and I were not looking for a puppy at that time. We had just lost our oldest dog, Ursa. She was a wonderful, talented, well loved dog, and I think we were still grieving her loss. Plus we still had two Aussies at home, so it wasn’t like we had an empty nest.

Our friend Petra saw this ball of fur and searched us out at the event, shoving the puppy into my arms. “Oh no you don’t,” I said and handed the puppy off to Paul. The puppy who was soon to be named Riker came home with us.

Although we had competed in conformation with several dogs previously, we had no interest in conformation competition at that time, so we didn’t care that Riker didn’t have the white flash that is so popular, that his head was too rounded, or that he was too small for a male. We liked character and personality, workability and biddability, and Riker had all of those in spades. I should say he did and still does have all of those attributes.

As many readers know, we name our dogs after Star Trek characters. Riker is a character from Star Trek: The Next Generation who is handsome, likeable, a workaholic, competitive, and a charmer with the ladies. All of those characteristics fit this puppy perfectly so Riker he became.

At six months old, he passed a herding instinct test with flying colors under a tester who likes Border Collies and usually isn’t impressed with Aussies. But when one of the sheep burst out of the pen and Riker went over the fence after her, caught up with her, turned her and brought her back to the pen – with no guidance or supervision by me – she passed him. And then gave him a glowing review and critique to those watching. Those spectators, by the way, were also giving him a standing ovation.

He was certified as a therapy dog at a year of age and has been actively doing that volunteer work for the past 11 years. He’s still doing it but I have eased up on his schedule a little. He still tends to be a little over enthusiastic for the elderly but he’s been visiting a day care center for kids in the foster care system for several years. That’s a wonderful fit for him.

He’s retired from both agility and obedience, but loved those sports in his younger years. I don’t ask him to cart anymore either, but he loved his cart. The last time he pulled it was at a memorial for a good friend who asked that he pull his cart, carrying her urn, into the service. Not all the attendees understood but all of her Aussie friends did.

His health is still awesome. His last exam showed that everything is healthy – heart, liver, kidneys – and other than his hip dysplasia, he’s healthy as the proverbial horse. This past year we changed his pain and anti-inflammatory meds a little, as well as his nutritional and herbal supplements, and he’s much more comfortable.

As he’s grown older, his personality has continued to shine. He’s affection and loving, playful and silly, and to put it simply, a joyful dog. He’s just Riker.

Photo credits: Top: Riker looking cute. Bottom: Riker with a haircut proud to be pulling his cart. Both photos by Liz Palika

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Fabulous 15! A tumultuous year but another Bella birthday

I never thought I would be writing this. Not a dozen years ago, when I got her knowing that she had a heart murmur, not three years ago when she was twelve and first starting on medication for her heart condition, not ten months ago, when I came within a day of euthanizing her because she wasn’t eating or moving around or seeming to want any attention, and certainly not four months ago when she was in the ER for a seizure while we were out of the country. It sounds like Bella has had an awful year, but when I look back on it, all I can see is how many amazing comebacks she made every time I was just about ready to give up on her.

If this were an Academy Awards speech, I would start by thanking her cardiologists: Kirstie Barrett, who shepherded her through annual exams charting the progress of her disease and decided when it was time to start the meds, and Sarah Miller, who took over while Dr. Barrett was on sabbatical and pulled her through that first crisis thanks to judicious treatment with pimobendan and an appetite stimulant.

Next would be Cindy Mar, her ophthalmologist. On top of her other issues, Bella developed dry eye and a corneal ulcer and Dr. Mar helped us work through those and get them under control. And she didn’t even scold me for not making Bella wear an e-collar, which probably would have speeded the process, but I couldn’t stand that she disliked it so much. (Yes, she has me well trained.)

Of course, there are all her regular veterinarians–Dr. Hamil, Dr. G and Dr. Brower–who have all given her lots of TLC this year. Special thanks to Dr. Hamil for taking my frantic phone call from Cayman during the seizure episode and my frantic phone call one night in December when she was shivering uncontrollably for no apparent reason. He talked me through an exam, talked me down from my anxiety about her and told me I could call any time that night if she seemed to be getting worse. I didn’t, and wouldn’t have, but I sure appreciated knowing I could.

I absolutely can’t leave out our pet sitter, Terry Albert, who made all the decisions I would have made for Bella until she was able to get in touch with us and confirm what treatment we wanted done. And we’re grateful that the veterinarians she took Bella to did such a great job of caring for her.

Then there are all of our neighbors, relatives and friends, including everyone here, who have been pulling for her and supporting me and Jerry with lots of love, kind words and good advice. Thank you, everyone.

As I write this, Bella is sleeping beside me, which is her default mode these days. When she’s awake, though, she still follows me around, performing her lady-in-waiting duties as she sees them. She’s back to carefully supervising meal preparation and eating enthusiastically. We are slowly transitioning her to a homemade kidney diet, and she seems to be accepting it pretty well. Outside, I don’t see her running anymore, but she still moves at a spanking pace for an old lady. When Harper and Twyla are getting clicker-trained, Bella notices and comes over to get in on the act. She gets clicked and treated for still being alive. I have gotten good at diapers and gotten over thinking she’s at death’s door at the slightest change in her routine. At least until the next time.

Happy birthday, dear Bella!

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