Freckle & Ceilidh’s Blog

Those Boxers sure know how to have a good time! Freckle attended her first Boxer Meet-up last Saturday night at Vanier Park at Kits Point. It was a beautiful evening and we were expecting up to 16 Boxers! Sadly only five showed up but we had several Boxer wanna-bees (see the Frenchie and the Pug below). The folks who showed up were very enthusiastic and everyone had a terrific time!

When we arrived, Freckle was greeted just beyond the parking lot by Harlem—a beautiful one-year-old boy—who is “reverse brindle” … meaning that he looks pretty much black—very unusual for a Boxer. Then we ran into Gracie—a petite little brindle girl who is very sweet. At the beach we met Tonga. Tonga is a gorgeous little fawn Boxer who seems to think that she’s a Golden Retriever. She spent most of the evening chasing a ball whenever she could convince someone to throw it into the ocean. Tonga swims like a fish and reminded us of our Bridget—who was also obsessed with swimming.

Harley is a senior citizen (10 years) and lives with Spock, the French Bulldog. Harley is such a sweet and gentle guy… didn’t get too involved with the athletic antics but enjoyed the outing nonetheless. Just as we were leaving, we ran into Presley—a young (10 months I think) dark brindle girl. We’re hoping that we can spend more time with Presley at the next Meet-up.

The Boxers were all pretty much into checking out the beach, digging in the sand, chasing balls into the water, or just watching those who were brave enough to swim waaaay out to get the balls (like Tonga). Freckle found that the beach to be a treasure trove of new smells after hosting hundreds of dogs most likely since her last visit. After an hour and a half, Freckle’s lip began to droop a little like it does when she’s really tired and we decided that maybe she’d had enough partying. We came home and had a rest and a snack. Good times!

I think that Doggy Dental Month is February or March … we’re always a bit late with celebrations. Freckle had her four teeth removed at the end of April and Ceilidh had two of her remaining teeth removed May 28th. Our vet very kindly saved one of Ceilidh’s teeth—the one that looked like a sea lion tusk—in a little glass tube. I said to Mary Doug, “aaaawwww … one day many years from now, we can make this into jewelry and we’ll always have Ceilidh with us.” I started to get teary … then I opened up the glass tube. Hoooeeey! It was FOUL! Don’t think I want to carry it around my neck … only if we make a piece of jewelry that includes the sealed glass case!

Anyway, looking at Ceilidh’s tusk got me wondering about what teeth are made of … and I found this nice little description of teeth at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Veterinary School.

Built for crunching and chewing, teeth mostly consist of hard, inorganic minerals like calcium. But they also contain nerves, blood vessels and specialized cells that manufacture the tooth’s different parts, says Bill Gengler, a veterinary dentist and oral surgeon with the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine.

The tooth’s outermost layer—the part we brush—is enamel. [Er… that should read: “the part we SHOULD brush.” Seriously, we’ve tried over the years! Pugs have vice-grip mouths—except when food is about to enter—and they’re not about to let you mess around in there with a toothbrush (child or doggy-variety), gauze wrapped around your finger or any other weird invention that you or your vet can come up with!]

Deposited by cells called ameloblasts, enamel is 95 percent inorganic, says Gengler, making it the hardest material in the body. In contrast, only about 50 percent of our bone is mineral.

Enamel is thin, though. In dogs and cats, for example, it’s just a fraction of a millimeter in thickness—so most of a tooth’s substance comes from the dentin underneath. Made by cells called odontoblasts, dentin is about 70 percent inorganic and tubular in structure, like a network of “little conduits with liquid inside,” Gengler says.

Inside the tooth, below the dentin, is the pulp chamber. The pulp includes blood vessels that nourish the tooth by delivering oxygen and nutrients, and fast- and slow-conducting nerve fibers that warn us of problems.

What Dr. Gengler failed to mention was that dog tusks such as Ceilidh’s smell really bad when they begin to decay and fall out and really don’t make very nice jewelry. Happy belated Doggy Dental Month!

We’ve been BUSY in our house. For the past couple of weeks, Freckle has had tummy problems which we just assumed were related to switching her to a home diet. Before this she’d been eating a mixture of oatmeal, turkey (or salmon or chicken), veggies and kibble. But with the commercial pet food issue, we decided to switch her to home diet sooner rather than later.

However, a few days ago, Ceilidh also had diarrhea—and one bout of vomiting. Off we went to the vet and came home with assorted remedies for both of them and antibiotics for Ceilidh. When we gave Ceilidh her first (massive!) pill, we saw that her remaining canine tooth was sticking out at a strange angle and was really, really LONG (check out the photo above!)! In fact it looked like she had a sea lion tusk in her mouth. And it was wiggly … like a child’s front tooth about ready to fall out. Back to the vet, and dental surgery the following day.

As you recall, Ceilidh has only one lung, so surgery/anaesthetic is always a concern. And she IS almost 13! But she came through it all without any problems and must feel so much better to have the tusk gone from her mouth. The only thing is that now, eating her food is a pretty messy affair as the tusk was the last of the front teeth. Now, she puts her face over her dish and it’s as if you put an electric mixer in a shallow bowl and turned it on high. The contents of the bowl end up all over the kitchen! It must be extremely frustrating for Ceilidh because she has to run all over the place scooping up the bits that fly off. It’s a dog’s life!

Back to Freckle … she’s now on antibiotics as well and is eating a prescription hypoallergenic food … and is feeling much better. We’re not sure yet what protein we’re going to find for her since she may be not tolerating the chicken/turkey option. Her prescription food includes duck and pheasant but our pheasant supply here in Vancouver is a little lean. We’ll find something.

This morning as Freckle and I walked past the IGA/liquor store up the street from us, we heard someone running behind us saying “Excuse me… excuse me.” We turned around to see a very tall man with kinky blondish hair pulled back into a tiny pony tail. He was panting by the time he reached us. Freckle sat down and we both looked at him expectantly.

Then he began to shout. “Can I use your cell phone to call 911??!!!” Freckle and I were both quite interested now. Kinky continued… “Those hoodlums over there…” He pointed to a group of 5 or 6 of the guys who live on the street in our neighbourhood. They were the regulars and we know them all because of being out and about with the dogs a lot. “They’re drinking alcohol in open view!” Kinky shouted. He paused as if he expected a response and then repeated himself. “They’re drinking alcohol in open view!”

Freckle and I had both turned to look in the direction of the group on the corner. It was true; the guys were all drinking cans of beer. Not a common sight actually. Usually they’re hustling around collecting cans and I rarely see them drinking “in open view.” I inhaled and was about to say, “I wonder if not having a living room of their own to drink in has anything to do with it?” But then I looked down at Freckle and she was gazing in the direction of the street guys, nodding her head. All she said was “Hmmmmm….”

Before I could say anything, Kinky, who was gesticulating wildly now, said “And I have a vintage car right there that they’re just obsessed with!” Freckle and I both turned toward the clump of fellows to see the vintage car. I was about to say, “Do you mean the one parked behind the Lexis?” [The photo above looks rather similar—just imagine it with primer instead of a paint job!]

I was thinking “You’ve got to be kidding!” In my mind, the car that I saw was the kind of thing that used to end up in the rocky corners of the hayfield until one of the neighbouring farm’s teenaged boy decided to tinker with it. However, I suppose that would make it vintage if you consider how many years ago that was. All of this was swirling through my mind as Kinky continued to rant about the impending vandalism to his car. I opened my mouth to say that I didn’t think that the guys were much of a threat. In fact they were completely oblivious to the vintage car AND the Lexis. As I considered how to say “Don’t be an idiot!” diplomatically, I glanced down at Freckle again. She was gently shaking her head and saying “Hmmmmm… “ soothingly while looking at Kinky with her soulful brown eyes. She seemed to know instinctively how to interact with this guy without becoming enraged by the wackiness of the world … or taking a trip down memory lane to weigh the true vintage-ness of his car.

By now Kinky seemed to have given up trying to get my cell phone and had lost some of his bluster. He pointed at the liquor store and said “Well, this is the place that sells ‘em the stuff, so I’ll go use a phone there!” And off he stomped. Freckle and I carried on and I pondered the usefulness of judgment … and the value of letting go of judgment. Another lesson from Freckle: When someone’s vintage car is in danger, it’s probably better to just nod and say “Hmmmmm…” because stating the obvious would probably be lost on them anyway.

“Well, I’m outside and the sun is shining, the wind is blowing …yeah, pretty much always the wind is blowing … and it just builds up in me and I kinda burst … ya know? I kinda just can’t keep it in. I just have to pounce on the swirling little pink blossom petals. They’re just swirling and swirling … ya never know where they’ll go next—they’re all over the sidewalk. I just kinda lose it! I have to jump on them… sometimes I just mash my face into the sidewalk. I can’t help it! I’ve never really thought about it as a weakness … ya know. It’s just something I do … like digging in the sand and chewing on a Nylabone dinosaur. Who knows where it comes from? If it feels good, do it!”

These are Freckle’s words … after we realized just what was going on and confronted her. It was after the first windstorm in cherry blossom season. Both Mary Doug and I had one arm that had been extended by 14 inches! We’d be walking along like any other day and bam! Freckle would be pouncing and grinding her little lopsided nose into the sidewalk … for no apparent reason. Until we realized that she was chasing and attacking cherry blossom petals—little pink flakes that swirled in the wind and raced along in front of us in a windstorm. She was gleeful! Almost ecstatic you could say. It was amazing once we recognized the signs. We’d had no experience with this particular behaviour. And Ceilidh would stand by and look in Freckle’s direction (Ceilidh is pretty much blind) with an expression that said ‘What ARE you doing?

Is it good for her? Probably not … at least it has the potential to be bad for her. We have speculated about whether this might be the cause of her broken jaw but then dismissed the idea. After the wind dies down and our extended arms have shrunken back to their normal length, we usually laugh about Freckle’s habit. After all, how often do you just break loose and do something spontaneously simply because it feels good? How often do you express your “inner joy” and engage in play when the opportunity arises? Exactly! I think we should learn from our cherry blossom-chaser and begin watching for moments of opportunity when they swirl past us too.

We’ve been a bit puzzled by Ceilidh’s behaviour lately. She’s been spending a lot of time standing over a sleeping Freckle … just staring at her face. When we ask her what she’s doing, she quickly moves on, muttering something indecipherable under her breath. The other morning, Mary Doug caught Ceilidh standing in front of the CD cabinet, which has glass doors and on a good day you can see your reflection. Mary Doug said she couldn’t be sure, but it looked like Ceilidh was making faces at herself! I told her not to be silly … but wondered if this might be a sign of age (Ceilidh, not Mary Doug). Then I saw Ceilidh yesterday in front of the cabinet… doing something weird with her lips. I just shrugged my shoulders and watched her wander down the hallway as if making faces at herself in the cabinet mirror was an everyday occurrence.

But then last night, Ceilidh said, “OK, I think I’m ready!” Mary Doug and I looked at each other and then back at Ceilidh. Ceilidh said, “Ready? Watch this!” Then she stuck her tongue out as you can see in the photo and said “It’s not that hard to look cute! The whole world thinks that Freckle is ‘just adorable’ with her tongue that hangs out. Well, it’s not that hard ya know!”

What else do you do? We applauded and gave her a few pointers… like she needs to work on her asymmetry to get the Freckle impersonation perfect. You gotta love ‘em eh?

Did I say that Freckle would be sore today? Well, someone forgot to tell her! She’s perky, ready to roll … she’d be up for a bolt down the beach! Another example of us projecting our own perception of what it feels like to have four teeth extracted? Or is it that animals have an innate “don’t let anyone know you’re in pain and possibly weak” gene that prevents their “real feelings” from showing? Who knows? But Freckle got up this morning and seemed just fine. Granted, she’s had some Metacam with her breakfast to help with the pain… and she’s on soft food… tonight was macaroni, tinned salmon and mashed carrots. She LOVED it! Ceilidh on the other hand thinks that pasta is a snack — not a meal! She’s been hanging out in the kitchen making groaning noises to let us know that she’s there. … and the food hasn’t appeared yet!!

There’s always bedtime snack, Ceilidh!

Freckle’s trip to the dentist was a doozie! When she came to live with us we discovered that she had many broken teeth–in addition to her broken jaw that makes her tongue hang out the side of her mouth. We scheduled a “check up” for today–maybe more like a tune-up and detailing. She’s also had a couple of bumps and a blood blister checked out–Boxers are bumpy and you always have to be cautious. All seems to be OK!

So…poor Freckle had to have FOUR extractions! Mary Doug went to pick her up at about 4:00 and by the time I got home at 5:00, she was lounging on the dog couch. She looked up at me and then got up and made her way to the door to meet me… somewhat unsteadily. By 6:30 when I began to prepare the dog dinners I watched to see what her reaction would be. We were told to feed her a small “soft” meal if she was interested.

Interested? She was VERY interested! With gusto she ate two teeny servings of oatmeal and chopped turkey breast… and looked for more. She’s had a lot of medication today … tomorrow she’ll be pretty sore. I wish that we could explain… but that’s just the way it is I guess.

Poor Freckle … her tongue always hangs out more droopily when she’s tired or stressed… I suspect that tonight she’s both.

Here are some highlights from the favourite snack poll.

Jesse loves those imitation (probably carcinogenic) bacon strips. We don’t buy them often, for obvious reasons, but when we do, she goes quite bonkers over them. [I know Jesse ... and I believe she would go bonkers! And we don't ALWAYS eat stuff that's healthy for us, do we? Read on...]

Peanut butter stuffed into a bone is great but rotten banana skins found under hedges rock the house. [Eeeeewwwww! Started out pretty good ... but ... Maybe if you explained what it IS about rotten banana skins ...]

Roast Chicken [What an excellent choice! How many chickens can you eat at once?]

Billy will eat almost anything. He LOVES treats, big or small. Never fed him fruit before, but he does love vanilla ice cream and would eat chocolate too but that’s a no no for dogs! http://billy-boozer.blogspot.com [Check out Bill's blog -- it's amazing!]

Ceilidh LOVES pretty much everything–except pickles not so much. Besides stuff that most dogs like–roast chicken, banana (not the skins though - yuk! That’s just gross, Gavin!), vanilla ice cream and probably carcinogenic bacon strips, Ceil is just apoplectic at salad-makin’ time. The crunchy ends of romaine lettuce are to die for! And cheese, and yoghurt, and cottage cheese, and mango, green and red pepper, turkey, snow peas, tomato, I could go on and on.

Freckle … well, she’s a “meat and potatoes kinda girl” as Mary Doug says … but hold the potatoes. We don’t think that she’d experienced much in the way of “human food” before she came to live with us. But now … I’d have to say that her FAVOURITE thing in the world is salmon. The girls get tinned salmon a couple of times a week. In fact, one morning Freckle stood at the kitchen counter (balancing herself with her arms) and tried to eat the second half of Ceilidh’s breakfast (Ceilidh eats too fast and makes herself sick so we usually do her meals in two shifts!). But I digress… the most recent thing that Freckle has discovered is mango. After rolling it around in her mouth for five minutes, she finally chewed it and her eyes just lit up. Now, we have to keep the mangoes locked up with the salmon.

Sassy–the Boxer before Freckle–she was the mango queen! Oh how she loved mango … and lettuce, and peppers, and apple (well, in a pinch), and cherries (without the pits), and all the usual stuff too. Oh, and the saddest thing I’ve ever seen? Sassy LOVED bananas … the inside part, Gav, not the yukky outside part after it’s gotten too old. And not too long before she got sick and had to go to the Bridge, we discovered that she was allergic to them… like many many things (yes, we had allergy tests done). I think that Sassy would say, “It’s times like this when I think that humans have it made … if you love it … ya gotta do it. Cuz you never know how long you’ll have.” Sassy could have eaten quite a few bananas before she had to leave (only 3 weeks from diagnosis until her death last July).

Before Sassy, there was Bridget. And Bridget was absolutely obsessed with apples! She would remember the exact location of a rotten apple in a snow drift 12 blocks away. Long after the snow had melted, next time we went that way she would dive at it and enjoy one big gulp of slimy, rotten apple. Maybe there’s a support group out there … whaddya think Gav? Bridget also liked peanut butter and toast … and muffins. I hope she’s dining like a queen at the Rainbow Bridge.

Thanks for sharing your favourite snacks everybody!

 Photo: Gracey Stinson  

It was last Wednesday morning … a weekday morning like any other.
I was walking to the bus stop. Arrived. Stood with maybe 8 to 10 other people. I looked around and thought about the conversation that I’d just had with Mary Doug about how people are in a fog and in a hurry in the morning … and why no one noticed anything odd the morning that the 56 year old woman was attacked at the Skytrain station a few days ago.

I turned my gaze east along Broadway and my eyes fell upon a raccoon. Just standing on Broadway as if she were saying, “Jeez, I wished I’d stopped at Starbucks!” She was outside the post office and Copies Plus. A man was making his way down the sidewalk toward her with a coffee in his hand. He noticed her and made a very deliberate veer off to the left … you know of those stories about raccoons tearing a dog’s underbelly open with their hind legs. I can only imagine what this man was thinking … but he did give the raccoon a wide berth.

I was amused and amazed at the same time. I glanced around to see if any of my bus stop companions had noticed. Not a SINGLE one had observed that a raccoon was literally 25 feet from us and contemplating the benefits of a Seattle’s Best at the IGA or going back down Broadway to Starbucks. No one looked around, no one looked in my direction so that I could catch and redirect their eye.

As I continued to watch the raccoon, she began to amble toward the curb. As she rumbled along, my heart began to climb up my throat … I’ve had the dubious honour of watching a Canada goose escort her family across Broadway in the middle of rush hour before! I did intervene in that situation to stop traffic at Broadway and Granville – and was most grateful that drivers did see me and chose not to make me a grease spot along with the geese. While this film was playing in my head, the raccoon paused at the curb, glancing both ways. Traffic lights changed at the intersections a block on either side of Maple. Traffic stopped and the section of Broadway in question was completely devoid of traffic. Amazing! The raccoon stepped off the curb and waddled with purpose across Broadway, up onto the sidewalk and then continued in between a restaurant and the Frog ‘n’ Firkin Pub. Whew! Two seconds later, traffic was again barreling down Broadway and my bus arrived. I glanced around and was astounded that truly no one had observed this tiny (near) collision of worlds.

This experience got me to thinking about the benefit of paying attention to details. Freckle for example, will drill her already smunched in nose into the concrete sidewalk while chasing the blossoms flitting in the wind. A tiny motion to us is cause to leap into action for her. Ceilidh will throw her weight at the TV to avenge the insolent cell phone creatures and their antics. Sometimes I think we humans require a tsunami before we’ll notice what’s going on. What does that mean? Why does it take an exaggerated event before humans notice that we’re sharing our space with events—maybe many—all around us? Why is it that a dog can sit and watch a bug crawl across the floor for hours and never seem to get bored? Maybe it’s about expectations? Maybe we see what we expect to see—like all of my bus stop neighbours? They were looking for a bus … and lo! They saw a bus. If that’s the case, I have one wish for all of us. Expect the unexpected. Look for the worlds intersecting. It can be breath-taking and it might save someone from a brutal attack.