Shandy's Good News

After a lot of ups and downs, it finally looks like Shandy girl is on the way to a full recovery. Yeah!

She's been much more like her old self--wanting to play, eat, go for walks--and best of all, we just heard from Dr. Wolf at Mayfair that the liver and spleen biopsies were benign. Great news all around.

Thanks so much for all your good wishes. It really helps to know other people are thinking about her too.

Shandy Day 5

At 14 I guess it's to be expected, but Shandy's recovery is going very slowly. She's still not herself and seems very depressed. I'm hoping that's partly due to the pain medication but it's hard to tell.

She did get to see some of her friends yesterday when we were out for a walk and it was really great to see her wag her tail. We're hoping to see more improvement today.

Shandy's Home!

We got a call yesterday to pick Shandy up around 5pm and, boy, were we happy. She was still very depressed at the vet's and they thought it would be best to get her home.

It was scary to see her so sad and she didn't perk-up right away, but Bandit was sure happy to see her. He put his head in her crate and just kept wagging his tail.

By 8:00 she was ready for some chicken and then she crawled under the sofa (her favorite spot) and slept until bedtime. This morning she went down the front stairs on her own and we walked through the park a bit. She just had some chicken and rice and we're hoping for a good day.

Thanks so much for all your positive thoughts and energy.

Shandy On The Mend

It was so good to see Shandy this morning. She's slowly coming around and we're really hoping she can come home tonight.

She did eat the chicken I brought for her. Yeah! I thought there was more than she'd eat but she wanted all of it and the vet said that was fine. They were just glad to see her eating because she wouldn't eat for them.

Look at that photo of her in the snow last Sunday. What a difference a week makes. She loves new snow and was playing like a puppy. Right after I snapped this photo she took off running across the field.

She looked so cute I even tried my hand at video and uploaded it to YouTube. Click here to take a look but keep in mind this is my first ever attempt and I hadn't intended it for "public" view. I sound like an idiot on the audio but we had fun. Oh yeah, I also learned that you can't turn the camera during taping--if you start in a vertical format, don't switch to horizontal midway. Duh. I believe that's why the picture looks a bit distorted.

Just called for a Shandy update. She kept her food down and, for the first time, perked-up a bit when they took her out for a walk. We'll check with the vet around 6PM to find out if she can come home.

Prayers for Shandy

It's been a rough few days for our Shandy girl. She had surgery yesterday to remove her spleen and untwist her intestines. Dr. Mike also found her liver enlarged and removed a piece to biopsy. On top of all that, we're not even looking at the secondary problem of her heart not looking good.

She's still recovering at the emergency vet's and they say her vitals are normal but she's very depressed. I'm getting ready to bring her some chicken (her favorite food) and will bring her Sit Stay Read blanket so we can sit on the floor and spend some time together. I'm hoping her SSR blanket will work its magic--she always gets excited when she knows she's going to a program. I might even see if she wants to wear her bandana.

Please keep Shandy in your thoughts and prayers.

Amazing Paperwhites

Each year for Christmas my friend, Betsy, gives me a vase with flowering bulbs that soon bloom with a taste of spring. Could be paperwhites (a type of narcissus) or perhaps an amaryllis.

This year's vase, with dogs on it, was perfect for the SSR office so I brought it in and have really been struck by how amazingly fast the paperwhites grow. When I received them on Saturday, they were well below the top of the vase. The photos here show them on Monday and then a week later. I swear, if they were sitting on my desk I'd actually be able to see them growing.

BTW, I found a tip on the web for keeping forced bulbs from falling over--give them tequila (really). It's too late for mine this year but check it out here. Very interesting.

Beary Grateful Shandy

That's Shandy with the latest addition to the Sit Stay Read family. Our new furry friend, "Read Teddy", was delivered today along with a very generous $10,000 check from the Build-A-Bear Workshop Bear Hugs Foundation!

The wonderful folks at Build-A-Bear Workshop do even more than make it possible for Shandy and her friends to help kids learn to read. With the sale of each Read Teddy, one dollar is donated to literacy programs throughout the United States and Canada.

Our Teddy is nicely dressed in her SSR bandana but check-out Build-A-Bear Workshop for some of the outfits on her friends. "Rock Star Read Teddy" is quite something but I'm a sucker for leopard print so the "So Stylish" outfit is the one that really tempts me. Of course Shandy would need to coordinate and, since she refuses to wear anything but her SSR bandana, that means no outfits for Teddy.

Brady the Cow Dog

Brady stopped by the office yesterday with his mom, SSR volunteer, Nancy Hollander. As you can see, he was wearing his fancy holiday collar. The red really sets off his cow-like coloring, don't you think?

Brady seems to like his collar but Shandy was unimpressed (even though it has bells!) I think she was just happy that I didn't have her try it on--she acts like she's being tortured if she has to wear anything other than her SSR bandana.

Owl & Crows

As I was typing that last post a group of crows were making quite a racket out back. I finally went to see what all the excitement was about and saw them harassing an owl. Couldn't get a good photo but that's the owl in the green circle.

The crows kept cawing and getting closer to him until he finally flew away and then they chased him. Nature at work right here in the big city. I love it!

Miss Alice

Shandy and I visited Wheaten Terrier, Alice Bea, at her house yesterday but I forgot to take a photo.

Luckily, Alice often accompanies her mom, SSR board president MK Czerwiec, to the office so I happened to have this great picture. Such a happy face--and that blue really makes a great background for her. No doubt about it, she's a glamor girl.

Reindog Parade

Many thanks to Susan Kennedy (standing behind SSR sign in photo) and Jenna Kelsey for braving the weather to help staff our table at the Reindog Parade today.

Nancy Hollander and Brady, one of our newest SSR dog teams, came out to enjoy the festivities, too. Be sure to check-out Brady's bio to learn more about this great guy!

There were lots of adorable holiday costumes at the parade, as evidenced by the tiniest reindeer/dachsund pictured here and the Nutcracker Lhasa. So cute.

It was mighty cold at the Botanic Garden today. Let's hope for better weather for next year's parade.