A Flyover Blog

New Puppy in the Family

Sunday we had a family day. We ate spaghetti, talked, watched football - you know, family day stuff. The highlight of the day was nephew Blake's brand new puppy, a 10 week old Pug named Ella. Thought you'd like to meet her.

Isn't she a doll? Love that smile on Blake's face.

Ella meets our Teddy Terrier, Sam. Sam was such a good, patient boy!

Our little Buddy, on the other hand, preferred to watch her from a safe distance.

Cousin Molly - a Maltipoo - was not only unimpressed with Baby Ella, she downright disliked the fact that she was getting all the attention. Until Ella arrived, Molly was the princess! Yes, those are feathers in her hair.

Ella is a wonderful addition to the Raymer family. You picked a cutie, Blake!

 

Anybody Use This Stuff?

Our house is ruled by two dogs - Sam the Good, our neurotic fly-fearing Teddy Roosevelt Terrier who is nearly 100% following knee surgery this summer, and Buddy the Brave, our 5 pound tough guy. Buddy is fearless and doesn't know he is a Yorkshire Terrier. He thinks he is a lion. That's him smiling for the camera.

Buddy has a loose tooth. Unforunately, it happens a lot. His front teeth have very shallow roots; it's a Yorkie thing. During his last dental cleaning this past spring he gave us all a scare when he responded really slowly after the anesthesia. That's a Yorkie thing, too. Buddy and Sam both turned 8 years old this summer - I know, he doesn't look it! - and I would really like to keep the anesthesia experiences to a bare minimum. I've had enough medical scares for one year, thank-you-very-much. So, I Googled "loose Yorkie teeth" a while ago and found several recommendations for this stuff. PetzLife is supposed to drastically reduce the need for cleaning under anesthesia.  The before and after pictures are really impressive and I'm ready to happily spend the $25 bucks to see if it will work.

Just wonderedif anyone else out there has used this product. Input helpful!

Update: I bought a bottle of PetzLife Dental spray today and spritzed it in both their little mouths when I got home. Smells like peppermint. They ran though the house spitting melodramatically.  I'll share results when/if I notice a change. Mary asked if I brush their teeth. Sadly, I failed doggie teeth brushing. Buddy's mouth is tiny; and Sam just doesns't sit still. Believe me, we've tried it all. Let's hope this works!

Sammy On The Mend

 

Our Teddy Roosevelt Terrier, Sam, tore a cruciate ligament in his knee and had to have surgery to repair it last Thursday. This was a big deal, especially for little neurotic Sam who is terrified of flies and his own gastric sounds.  We brought him home Friday afternoon doped to the gills and wearing his safety collar.

 

The little guy gets to take the collar off to go outside. He refuses to put weight on the leg, probably because of all the staples. He also had a benign, but very large, fatty tumor removed from his tummy, so he has staples there, too. His left hind quarter is shaved and all that itchy stubble is driving him nuts.

 

His staple line looks great; he gets them removed in 2 weeks.  Looks like Sam and Mitch are going to have matching knee scars. Mitch's knee surgery was in April - a complication from his cycling accident in February.

 

Our heartfelt thanks to our longtime friend and brilliant veterinarian, Dr. Pat Parnell and his staff at Animal Care Clinic. You guys are simply The Best! 

Sam's Turn

 

Here's what's goin' on at our house: Mitch is about to wrap up physical therapy. woo hoo! He's doing extremely well!  You'd never know he had a major accident 3 and a half months ago. My MIL, Ruby, is in transitional care following her stroke 2 weeks ago tonight.  We're still hopeful she can regain her speech. The therapy is exhausting, but she is in extremely good hands. Our little Teddy Terrier, Sam, ruptured a cruciate ligament in his left hind knee and will have surgery tomorrow. This is Sam with Mitch. Sam is a happy little guy who likes to go go go, so keeping him off the stairs for 2 months is going to be a challenge. The fun never ends...

Welcome Baby Bonnie

We added another member to our family this past weekend besides my great new brother-in-law, Dan. This is baby Bonnie, an 8 week old Schnorkie. (Mom's a Schnauzer; Dad's a Yorkie.) She was born May 10. She's going to live with my brother David and his wonderful pet-loving family. This little girl will never have a lonely moment again, Michael and Whitney will see to that. I hear Sandy stayed up with her the first night and sang her lullabies.

They brought her over to meet us Friday evening. Sam was mesmerized by her - thought she was the coolest thing since McDonald's french fries. Buddy was a typical Yorkie; he pretended she didn't exist for a couple of hours, then curiousity got the better of him. Welcome, Baby Bonnie!

Buddy's Turn

Buddy reminded me that Sam's been getting a lot of mention lately on this blog, mostly for being a nervous wreck. On the other hand, Buddy, our 5 pound Yorkie, has nerves of steal and has done more than his part to make our transition to this new house fun. Here he is looking out the window at his big new world.

Here's another shot of that window. Sam likes to stand on back of the couch. That's Buddy in the lower right corner, standing on the cushion.

It's hard to get the little guy to sit still long enough for a picture. But I put him on the staircase and got this shot. 

This is the way it works at our house: if you do something to Buddy - like give him a bath, or trim his toenails, or take his picture - you have to do the same to Sam. Here's our clown, Sam, posing for his picture. He's a camera  hog.

Here's Mitch at the top of the stairs with the boys. Buddy sat quietly on the step but, as usual, Sam got a case of the wiggles and licked Mitch's ear. I hope you are having a peaceful weekend at your house!

He's Back!

If you're a regular reader of this blog, then you know I've been posting a lot lately about our Teddy Terrier, Sam. Sammy has been on doggy Prozac for several weeks because the whole moving process totally freaked him out.

I am happy to report that 2 days ago, Sam woke up and suddenly realized he was living in a cool new house and he had nothing to fear. He's back to his comical, fun-loving self. Here he is with Mitch (who is sporting a sunburn from helping me garden.) I pulled Sam off the Prozac; he doesn't need it anymore. Life is good.

Settling In

Thought I'd better post a progress report. We've been in the new house a week. The boxes are mostly unpacked, though I still can't find anything. My arm and hand have been killing me, so I'm a bit behind my own (self-imposed) unpacking schedule.

Those of you who know me won't be surprised at this - we were in the house two whole days before I discovered that I failed to pack the eating utensils and the cooking utensils, too. Not high on my priority list. Good thing we haven't sold our old home yet; I went back earlier this week and got them. There are still some odds and ends at our home in Tiny Tourist Town. I hope to get all those packed up and moved this week.

Sam, our Teddy Terrier, is adjusting slowly. We pulled him off the doggy prozac yesterday, but he saw a fly today (he's terrified of flies) so we gave him another pill this evening. Buddy, our Yorkie, loves this house, thinks we should have moved years ago. Other than a bad spell our first night - he lept off the couch, hit the hardwood floor with a thud and bloodied his mouth - he's been a champ.

In the six nights we've been here, 2 of those were spent under tornado warnings - and the tv hadn't been hooked up yet, so there was no live radar. We muddled through with radio storm trackers and frequent phone updates from my brother, David, who lives in Nixa.

We absolutely love this house. I found the camera, so I'll post some pics later this week. You're all invited to stop by on your next trip through Springfield!

Poor Sammy

It was one of those weekends at the Raymer house. Mitch's mom has mild bronchial pneumonia, so we spent the past several days checking on her - she lives 35 miles away. Good news - the antibiotics have kicked in and she's feeling much better.

So is Sam, thank goodness - who is a far more demanding patient than Mitch's mom. We have 2 dogs, Buddy the Yorkie (our 5 pound tough guy) and Sam, pictured here at Christmas. Sam is a Teddy Roosevelt Terrier which, if you've never seen them, are short stocky little clowns. Sammy adores his family (especially Mitch) fun and food. He's also the most phobic dog I've ever met. Seriously. Poor little guy is absolutely terrified of flies, windshield wipers, and his own bodily functions. He falls apart if he belches or breaks wind. I kid you not.

Well, Saturday he developed a case of turbo-diarrhea brought on, I suspect, by that tarter fighting treat I gave him chased by some watermelon he begged from Mitch. (Our dogs love fruit.) Mitch made a trip into town Sunday and came back with Pepto Bismal in 2 forms - good old pink liquid (which my dogs can spit a distance of 25 feet) and Wild Cherry tablets. Wishing to avoid the whole "pink spew" scene, I got creative; I crushed 2 Cherry tablets and mixed the powder into half a teaspoon of plain yogurt. Mitch told Sam it was cherry yogurt and he gobbled it up. That did the trick! Today he feels great.

Every now and then, I wonder if we should have had kids and, if we did, how they might have turned out. On those rare occasions all I have to do is look at poor phobic Sam... and I know we made the right decision.

Thursday Thirteen-Week 9

Last month one of our dogs, Sam, did the TT list for me while I was ill.  Our Yorkie, Buddy, has not forgotten this. He insisted on doing his own list this week.  Here it is...

13 Things About Buddy

1.  I'm not too crazy about baths.  Mom uses no-tear shampoo on me that smells like fruit.  This is me when my hair was still short.  It touches the floor now.

2.  I weigh 5 pounds.  Sam weighs 24 pounds.  I have to watch out for Sam - sometimes he runs over me!

3.  I was here first. I am 3 weeks older than Sam.  Sam belongs to me.

4.  My teeth are pretty crooked so I only eat small things.

5.  I am not afraid of anything! Sam? He's a coward.

6.  My favorite game is hide-and-seek.  You hide toys and Nylabones and cookies, and I find them!

7.  I love fresh fruit!  Especially peaches, strawberries, apples and mandarin oranges.

8.  Once, I knocked a turtle dove down in the yard and gummed it pretty good.  It was fun, until mom said, "Bad Buddy!" and brushed all the feathers out of my hair and gave me a bath.  It was a long day. (P.S. The dove was okay, just slobbery. I have those crooked teeth, remember.)

9.  I don't like to be cold.  If I get cold, I curl up next to Daddy... and if he's busy, I curl up next to Sam.  Sam's always warm.

10.  Staying home is okay, but I prefer to Go! Go! Go!

11.  I have a big job - I take care of Mom and Dad and Sam.  I think this house would fall apart without me!  Sam? He mostly sleeps.

12.  All of Sam's toys are bigger than me.  All of my toys are tiny... except for one.  I have a nemesis, a stuffed cat named Mrs. Norris from the Harry Potter movies.  That is my special toy.  I beat it up when I'm feeling really tough.  It's pretty slobbery, too.

13.  I love people!

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