I couldn’t find him and then I did. He climbed up and used my new dresses as a mattress.  This chicken nugget is genius. Video proof below.

I was able to save the dresses without waking sleepy beauty. 

Six years ago, Melvin got me.  He sent his powerful mindwaves across several states and jedi-mind-tricked me into looking at the rescue-site one last time before making my adoption choice.  (The rescue group I got Melvin from requires you to meet at least three dogs before you decide. Melvin ended up being #4.) I logged on to the interwebs, I saw him and that was it. HIs rescue of me was official.

He may have been a hot mess but I was no prize.  Max was nearing the end, I’d had a year of health challenges.  I was desperate to move forward.  I think that’s why Melvin picked me.  He thought, ‘hey, I have a  lot of energy, I can and will pull her kicking and screaming (literally)  into the next chapter of life. She’ll be my living rickshaw.”

In six years we have dealt with more health issues than a small village could have. I have laid on the vet’s floor with him more times than I care to count. We have romped, and wagged and cried and one of us lost a tail.  We have growled at each other, leaned on each other and glanced at each other 40 billion times. There was a lot of drool.  I have watched him transform from spazzy to soulful. From fearful to a love-craving fool.  I watched as he searched for Max, long after Max died and I was there as he made room for Jake. My heart has become full from just knowing him.

I will never love another dog the way I love Melvin. That is how it should be. Unique, unconditional love.  He is perseverance, he reminds me that happiness is a choice. He is the perfect balance of kind, goofy, love and joy. He is the dog that makes someone be a dog person. I promise him understanding as he continues to age, I know he will give me the same.

If he could write his own post I think he’d sum it up like this… She feeds me and she smells like love. I choose her, forever.

Happy 6th my boy!

This photo is Melvin’s first 5 min in our house.  He fooled us into thinking he was low-key!

The dogs I have had so far are a Schnauzer and Collie (during childhood), a Saint Bernard, two Labrador Retrievers and now a French Bulldog.  Prior to Jake, none of the dogs I owned cared to hunt.  Max and Melvin chased squirrels but to be honest, I don’t think either of them would have known what to do if they caught one. They’d probably have been terrified.

Jake on the other hand, well he’s like a little caveman.  “Must hunt to eat”, which is totally not true since I am the one who buys all the dog food.  Dude is 33 solid pounds, going hungry is not something that happens to him.

You know about the frogs, and about stalking the birds.  If there is any rustling of leaves (Jake does not understand the concept of wind) he will attack said pile of leaves until he is sure nothing living is hiding there. Well now we can add bunnies to the list.

A family of bunnies lives in our front yard bushes. I’m fine with that, hopefully they won’t feed on the new flowers planted but whatever.  Jake walked outside one day (he goes buggy-free on good legs days) and we were 40 feet from the front yard and yet he knew they were there. Bunny scent wafted straight up his flat face.  The walk was over, he had to hunt.  I of course had no clue why he was puling me towards the front yard, let alone the bushes until Bugs Bunny IV. leapt out from under some flowers and all hell broke loose in our yard.  When Jake is hunting, the world around him disappears.  There is just him and the prey.  It’s like his own version of the Matrix.  It’s so severe that I have to pick him up (he kicks and honks) and take him back inside. (In the meantime, Melvin has this look on face like: “OMG, why can’t we just take normal walks like other families.  Why does Jake ruin this for everyone?”)

Once inside, he will “run” to the front of the house and try to hunt the bunnies through the walls.  He may not be super smart or very fast, but he is very persistent. I have never understood prey drive until he came to live here.  The fact that he knows the bunnies are there means that he will 100% always think they are there, long after they have left.  We saw a cat once in a field where there are now houses and every time we walk by there, he moans with desire from inside the buggy.

“When is Easter? I’m hungry”

You know how sometimes you will hear ‘I never win anything’?  You will never hear me say that, I win stuff all the time – I don’t know how but I aints complaining!  Most recently I won a giveaway from Adventures of a Dog Mom!

The giveaway was from Maddie Lab Studio and I immediately knew which piece I’d pick if I won, in fact If I didn’t win, I was totally going to order it.

Dealing with Maddie Lab Studio was AWESOME and the print arrived quickly and wrapped lovingly!  It’s being framed but I’ll be sure to post photos of it once it’s up in the house.

I love art like this, I have a canvas print of a deer in tubes socks, no clue why but it makes me so, so happy.  This print will fit right in!

Thanks to Adventures of a Dog Mom and Maddie Lab Studio!!!!

I was looking over recent search terms that landed people on the blog.  Some of them probably found what they were looking for (??) while others…not so much (I bolded the ones who may have had to rethink their search criteria once they landed on our blog).

Notice how Jake doesn’t bother moving. 

Jake’s allergicness issue seemed to clear up Friday night and Saturday.  I got a migraine on Saturday that went straight through Sunday night.  I woke up Monday morning and celebrated that my head no longer hurt. Jake celebrated Monday morning by throwing up his weight in vomit.

I took the boys out, fed them breakfast and we went back upstairs.  Half an hour later, Jake started throwing up.  Over the course of the next hour he seemed to thew up undigested food, which,  judging by the amount, seemed to be from the last few days.  WHERE HAD HE BEEN STORING THIS STUFF?

It is important to note here that Jake is pretty iron stomached.  Stuff goes in one end comes out the other end. He has never had the runs and has only thrown-up once, post anesthesia.   So I took him to the vet, again.

He was not in pain, he was hydrated and he had gone to the bathroom (both) that same morning.  His temperature was normal.  Aside from taking all the stuff on the inside and spewing it across surfaces in the house, he was…fine. He got a few shots to help with nausea, managed to have diarrhea all over the lobby of the vet (our lives are so magical and sexy) and we got a few prescriptions to take home with orders not to feed him until evening.

Jake went home and slept all day.  The only time he got up was to smell Melvin but then it was back to sleep.  He got some rice for dinner and slept well all night.

We shall see what today brings for the little monkey.  Hopefully it’s boring and extremely uneventful and having nothing at all to do with the V word.

“Me belly hurts.”

Friday morning Jake woke up and started shaking his head.  He shook it so continuously that he couldn’t walk down the steps.  We went outside and he just shook, shook, shook. After breakfast I got a wipe and clean his ears out.  They weren’t dirty but the cool wipe on his ears seemed to help and he relaxed.  I left for work and he seemed fine. Random checks to the Jake cam showed him sleeping.

When I got home, the note from the dog walker was…funny and yet not.  Jake had refused to go out, he then ran into the foyer and pee’d. Then Melvin poop’d closed by. Since Jake refused to go out (he does this when it is just too hot/humid), she took Melvin for a walk and came back to Jake making love to Rug.  (Seriously, who gets notes like this about their dogs?!  I love it.)

Then I looked at Jake.  He was bright red, like a cherry.  His eyes were red, ears red, white spots red.  And he was shaking his head non-stop.  We drove to vet.  Turns out Jake was having an allergic reaction to something — still no idea what that something was.  They gave him a Benadryl shot and a rub down with a steroid cream.  Within in five minutes the redness faded.  He is still shaking his head but for the most part he seems to be slowly improving.

I don’t know what could have caused it and with a dog like Jake (low to the ground, inhales things just by breathing) I don’t know if we will figure it out. Perhaps he got stung by something, although I don’t see any bite bumps. He’s on Benadryl for a few days then back to his normal allergy antihistamine.  I have the steroid cream so he will be massaged with that for a few days too.

When we returned from the vet I went to look for my phone (I was bummed I didn’t take it with me in our hustle to get to the vet).  Once I found it, I realized Jake was nowhere to be found.  I finally found him, apparently he needed some privacy and a cool floor post Benadryl shot. 

Living with Melvin has created a world where we don’t change anything in the house.  Laundry detergent, hand soap, treats, cleaning products – you name it, it stays consistent.  That is why for this situation with Jake, I can almost confirm 100% that it was something outside.  I can’t imagine how difficult it would be for someone to have this happen who doesn’t have to have the structure we live with.  How would you ever figure out if it was inside our outside!  Oye!

“I’m itchy, but adorable.”

Stay tuned tomorrow for the update on how we were BACK at the vet!

Melvin pulled the old switcheroo on Jake this week.

I am not sure where time has gone! I have all these blog posts in my head but random things are getting in the way.  If you have noticed our lack-o-posts in the past week, it’s due to…

• migraines (boo!)
• graduations (yay!)
• funerals (sigh)
• little ballerina recitals (adorbs)
• birthday parties at jumpy places (cray)
• Jake’s therapy (woot!)
• early Father’s day (who needs calendars?)
• frog patrol (gag)

I plan to get back in the game this weekend — until then, these goonie-shots will hopefully win you back over!

Love. 

Love, love!

Summer!

Jake still can’t read.

Lean on me. 

Jake hunts.  Even when he is on the bed, staring out the upstairs window, he is on high alert when birds fly by.  I honestly worry that he’ll try to leap from the bed toward the window to catch one in flight.

In the past couple years, there have been a surge of tadpoles in our neighborhood.  I don’t know why, you’d have to ask Mr. Science that.  But there were so many tadpoles that people came from surrounding areas to gather some up. This year, well this year I have seen more frogs in the past two weeks than I have seen in my entire life.  They are everywhere.  Most of them are small, I don’t know if they are baby frogs or frogs that just don’t get big.  Every once in a while, I’ll see the full size variety.  I don’t know if they are the poison kind.  I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING EXCEPT THERE ARE A LOT OF FROGS.

Oh, I also know that Jake eats them.

“Frogs are delicious.”

If he see’s one hopping, he sits stealth like.  The frog hops up near him and he lunges and eats it mid-flight. Poetically, it’s the same way a frog gets a fly. I try to stop him. He runs from me (well as much as he can run but I’m not really that fast either and he is good at the zig-zag).  Inevitably, during the chase, he eats at least two more baby frogs.

The grossest part is that I’m pretty sure he doesn’t chew, he just catches it and swallows. I have to pick up his poop with my eyes closed because I’m afraid there will be a frog leg sticking out or an eye staring back at me.

Jake. Is. A. Serial. Killer.  There I said it.

“What? Serial Killers need love too.”

Also, we have some of those poison frogs around our area.  I have heard stories of dogs licking a frog and the dog foams at the mouth.  I thought maybe I should muzzle Jake while I try to teach him the art of being kind(er) to nature. HIS FACE IS GIANORMOUS.  Muzzles don’t fit flat faced bobble heads.  So instead, I now run through the yard while Jake is back there, flailing my arms and making noise, hoping that frogs find our yard to be an insane asylum and migrate elsewhere.

The one good thing is that Melvin is TERRIFIED of frogs.  One hopped by him the other day and Melvin pooped himself in fear.  I honestly think I heard him cry out ‘mommy’.

“Hold me, I’m scared.”

Jake has a UTI.  At least, that is what we hope he has.  It started pretty suddenly last week, he just couldn’t hold it anymore.  At all.  So I took him to the vet and his test showed he ‘could’ have a UTI but it was not definitive.  The concern of course being that one day, due to his spinal issues, Jake probably won’t be able to hold it at all.  Is that now?

We are trying a course of antibiotics and it does seem to be helping.  I can’t say it’s cured but we are definitely hopeful.

In the meantime, I ordered him some super spunky belly bands.  I’m also teaching him to use the treat ball.  This toy will help him use legs and brain – a win-win for Jake.

Here he is, diaper and video.  Love this little guy so much!

A month ago, Melvin woke up one day and could barely get up.  He moaned when he moved.  He tired quickly, sometimes while we were still in the driveway, just starting our walk.  Had old age set in over night?  We’d seen it before — it was some sort of issue from some stupid tick.

Melvin has pretty much had every test and procedure known to dog.  We have had him tested for tick borne disease and the test come back negative (Jake on the other hand came to us with Ehrlichia) .  But both the neurologist and the regular vet feel Melvin’s results are misleading.  While he might not have one of the big four tick borne diseases, he most definitely has one of the many tick borne disease they have not discovered yet.  In fact, the neurologist told me there are hundreds of tick born diseases out there, that affect dogs every day, they just haven’t classified them all yet.

Enter Doxycycline.  We used it last time Melvin had the flare-up and we tried it again this time.  The difference is last time it was about $20 a week and this time it was $180 a week.  Treatment is four weeks, minimum.  But you know what, who cares!  When your dog can’t walk and he moans to move, well I try to think of what I wouldn’t do to help, and  there is really nothing on that list.  I’ll move heaven and earth (or pay a lot of money) to help him.

Melvin finished his first round of Doxy this week.  If the symptoms return (for this round), we should know by the weekend, and he’d have to go back on Doxy for two months this time.  If not, well we will rejoice!  But the fact is, he has some tick issue inside and we need to be realistic that it could pop back up at any time.

So Deer Ticks (see what i did there with Deer/Dear — I’m so clever), I HATE YOU.  I HATE YOU.  I heard you don’t even serve a purpose in the ecosystem of life.  For something so useless, you are terrible. Awful. Hurtful.  And if I see you, well if I see you, you’re dead.  Yeah, you heard me.  I will burn you to the ground.  I will squash you, flush you, twist you in to pieces.  Sincerely, the mother of two dogs that you have infected.

Happy weekend – look out for ticks!

I thought I’d give my own update.  I’m doing great, and in case you ladies were wondering, I’m still very sexy. I know I’m a dog but sometimes I see myself in the mirror and I think, MEOW!

I love my life.  I sleep-in like a teenager, She literally has to nudge me to get up.  My butt must still be pretty big cause my back legs really struggle to hold it up, especially first thing in the morning. It’s ok though cause she bought me a car to drive around in!!! What-up ladies?!

When I think of my life, there are two things I see.  Her and him.  First, I love Her.  I mean, I love-love her.  She makes me be calm and gooey inside.  I used to be all scatter-brained and freaky but now, I’m mellllloooowwwww. I love to stare at her.  I turn my head away from her so I can stare her directly in the eye.  And she blows me kisses.  Gahhhhhhh.  I mean I now know what true love is.  Heres a secret… sometimes my butt shoots out the meatballs and I SWEAR on Melvin’s butt that I don’t mean to do it, I mean I’m as shocked as anyone else in the vicinity.  But she just says, ‘it’s ok, I’ll get it’.  Is that what love does, it makes her willing to pick up meatballs IN THE HOUSE?

Then there is him, brother, Melvin, the scent that heals me. Hot damn I love that guy.  Did you know that when he is standing up, I fit perfectly underneath him?  I mean what are the odds, it’s like we are puzzle pieces.  I don’t know if two pieces makes a puzzle, but our two pieces make a whole lotta awesome!  If I’m being honest, Melvin is much nicer than I am.  I still have split personality syndrome and sometimes Absolutely Not (that is my alters name, at least that is what She calls out when he rears his evil head) will try to bite Melvin’s face and I try to fight forward but Absolutely Not must really like how Melvin’s face tastes.  Apparently Absolutely Not doesn’t have a functioning nose cause the prize is at the other end of Melvin’s body. What a dummy.

I wish I could make Melvin Booty Candles, we would make a fortune!  She always says that we should get jobs, so maybe one day that can happen!

Well, I gotta run.  I will leave you with the highlight of my awesome life thus far – it just happened this past week.  Even though She wrote that Melvin doesn’t like to snuggle me, SNUGGLING OCCURRED PEOPLE!  I don’t know how, I don’t know why and I don’t care!  He loves me, I just knew it!!!

The boys are doing great! Sure, every sibling relationship has it’s issues (in our house we call that pulling a Jake). When someone new comes over or a dog passes in front of our house (the nerve of that dog) Jake will try to bite Melvin’s face (I am still not sure what his MO is…’hey someone new is here, I should bite my brother’s face to alert him’ or ‘hey a dog just came to close to our house, let me bite my brother’s head in retaliation’).  Thankfully, Melvin continues to channel his inner Nelson Mandela and walks away each and every time.

The other 99% of the time, they are living in sweet harmony.  Jake spends a great deal of time smelling Melvin. Melvin must smell brand spanking new every day because Jake never misses a chance to take it all in. Sometimes they kiss each other, back and forth.  I’ve noticed also that they have started laying closer and closer to the other however the moment Jake touches Melvin, Melvin will get up and move.  If you are human, Melvin will melt into you. If you are Jake, Melvin is not super touchy/feely.  This can also be seen when Jake is in Melvin’s bed and Melvin wants in said bed.  Jake will move over to make room for his brother (it’s really sweet to see but then I know that heartbreak is upon us).  Melvin is not keen on the idea of bed sharing with his brother so he will, ever-so-gently, nudge Jake with his nose to ‘encourage’ his departure from the bed. Despite the rejection, Jake still tries every time.

They seem to know when the other one is having a tough day.  If Jake is down for the count due to his legs, Melvin will go to Jake and lay down, often kissing him first.  When Melvin was having issues with his joints due to his tick born disease, Jake would not only smell Melvin’s whole body, but he’d deliver kisses along the way.

I couldn’t have asked for more.  I love that they love.

Jake was really working it. Melvin was embarrassed for him.

Three years ago, Melvin had one collar.  Our life was happy, but there was also a sadness (in the general area of accessorizing). I knew we had to make a change.  I mean one collar?  That is borderline abusive.

Today, Melvin has a collar collection that is museum worthy.  When Jake came, I obviously needed to catch him up on his own collection.  I mean, it would be hurtful not to.  Funny story there, I bought Jake a bunch of collars and then his neck went through a growth spurt, so now I am slowly replacing each collar that is too tight for his giant waddle.

Let me first explain that when I say collars, I mean Sirius Republic collars.  We have a monogamous relationship with SR.  We are not swingers.

So here’s the thing.  I’m addicted – but don’t send help.  If you want to send something, send ideas for the next Sirius Republic collar they most definitely don’t need will be getting!  We have thirty collars so far (this does not include bow ties, or leashes or snoods).  When I was taking the photos, I realized a couple of collars were in the wash (and two are in use).  I could have gotten them but I think these photos do the addiction plenty of justice.  On this one thing in life, we never ‘just say no’. (We have that same philosophy about wine).

I had a crappy day last week.  Everything that could go wrong at work, did.  And then some.  I came home feeling defeated and worrying how I could fix it all the next day.

The dog walker leaves notes every day, about how the boys did and whether they ‘went’. On that crappy day, I came home to this… and all was beautiful again.

In case you can’t read the latest entry: Cooler today!  Melvin happy!  Your boys are so well-behaved! It’s truly a joy to see them every day!  You should feel proud – you’ve done a good job! 🙂

This (my real job) work matters most!  Yay us!

When it comes to the boys, I have two rather intense addictions.  Dog beds and Sirius Republic collars.  The collar one is the one I get the most joy out of severest of them so I’ll touch on that in a different post.

If you walk around my house, there are a bunch of places for the boys to land, to take a load off, to burrow into.  Jake has a bed in the mudroom (where he is when I’m not home), Melvin and Jake both have beds in the living room.  There are beds on the patio, by the front door, in the tee pee, in the bedroom (I mean doy, you must have beds there) and there is a pile of beds in the guest room for rotation purposes.  There may or may not be a few beds in the basement, for just in case. We have also donated many beds.  Many, many, beds.

I wish I could say I don’t know what it is, but I do know what it is.  I see a new bed and it seems way cooler than the beds we have and then wham, it shows up on our doorstep. It might be magic.

DISCLOSURE: To be fair (to myself and your judgement of me), the boys beds always serve two purposes: comfort for them and decoration for the house.

There are a lot of reasons I will never be able to retire, this is just one of them. So I give you my new favorite bed purchase.  They need no other words because they scream AWESOME in so many ways.

You can find them here from Furlap (and if you buy any, mention you saw this post!).  Update:  Furlap is offering $5 off your purchase, just enter OHMELVIN as the coupon code when you order between now and July 1st (and to the reader who already ordered, you will be refunded $5!)!!! Yay!!!