Melvin man will be turning nine in March. Don’t even get me started on trying to figure out where time goes.  Anywho, we go to the vet so much for so many random things that I recently realized I don’t  think we have ever gone to discuss ‘future’ issues.  It’s always been ‘today’s conundrum is…’. So a few weeks ago I took Melvin for what I like to call his ‘he’s-turning-nine-how-are-we-doing-and-what-can-we-do-to-make-sure-his next-nine-years-run-smoothly’.

Almost-nine looks good on him. 

The good news is that aside from allergies and his stupid liver, Melvin is pretty darn healthy! His joints are good and limber and aside from his stupid liver, his blood counts are all good. His eyes are growing older, the vet said that he likely can’t see very well at night.  I have night lights all over the house (cause I trip a lot) so he is covered there.

Since moving Melvin to a raw diet, I have been able to get him off a couple of his allergy meds (yay!).  We decided to test his allergies again (it’s been almost six years).  When the report came back in, our vet was afraid to share the results with me.  I assumed it was because he was now allergic to me. It turns out, he is NOW allergic to the two things he’s been eating and doing so well on – beef and pumpkin.  Oh Melvin.

Raw worked for us for a couple of reasons, the main one being that Melvin has colitis and on kibble his urgency to go #2 is often frantic.  With raw, that urgency was gone.  We have had much fewer skin infections and his energy level has been awesome.

After the allergy test we moved Melvin over to a prescription kibble that contains stuff he is not allergic to (kangaroo and oats) but the urgency issues and accidents are back.  I have finished my study of which raw diet to put him on and think we will try lamb. We are also starting back on allergy shots (that I will give him).  Before, when we did shots, we were never able to get him off any of his meds and I had serious doubts the shots were doing anything that they meds weren’t taking care of. Now that he is off so many of his meds, the shots might be just what we need to get him off the dreaded prednisone.

In the meantime, I tested the new kibble on Jake.  I try to feed Jake the same protein source as Melvin just in case Melvin ever gets to Jake’s bowl (I mean I’m very vigilant but sometimes I am pouring wine distracted). Jake seems to have an iron stomach and handles food transitions really well.  This time,  Jake had an allergic reaction and itched so much he developed an infection. No Kangaroo hunting for him.  Oh….Jake.

And just like that (well, about a week later anyway), Jake realizes the floor pillow is much softer than the floor.

Since Jake loves laying near the fireplace and I have a shopping addiction love shopping for the dogs, I bought him a new ‘fireplace area floor pillow’.  So far he is has laid around it, near it,  but not on it.  At one point he even pushed it out-of-the-way. I’m not sue why he finds it so unacceptable.

Hurtful, Jake.  Hurtful.

The brotherhood is alive and well!  Melvin doesn’t play so he continues to refuse all of Jake’s advances to do so.  Jake is still an annoying little brother at times and will try to leap toward/and bite Melvin’s face (for no reason) but luckily he can’t reach that high so it’s usually not an issue.  For the most part, they can be found close by one another, and I LOVE It!

When you get a dog, there are no guarantees about how they will deal with future things.  Like your next dog, your next child, your next boyfriend.  In those moments, I hope for great and plan for awful.  At the end of the day, you figure it out.  For me, I had no idea how my dogs would do with my migraines. My migraines come on quick, they last from twenty-four to forty-eight hours.  During that time, I am down for the count. There is no opportunity for a slow introduction between your dog and migraines and I have never once seen an area on a rescue profile about ‘super well-behaved if they think a migraine is in progress’.

Max was great on migraine days.  He would lay next to the bed (he was 100% against getting on furniture) and never made a peep. I figured he was my blessing dog, that I’d never find that again.

Melvin has been with me for hundreds of migraines.  Hundreds!  Where Max was great, Melvin is AWESOME. He requires absolutely nothing more than I can give on those days.  He never asks to go out, he waits until I can make it downstairs.  He requires no treats, even though I keep some in my bedside table for moments such as that.  He never barks, even when I know he hears something.

Melvin assumes the migraine day position:

How did I get two awesome migraine dogs???!!  When Jake came, I figured that streak had ended. That all hell would break loose.  His normal noise factor alone made me immediately come up plans for him.  I figured he’d have to be downstairs, separate from me on migraine days. Worse case, he’d have to go…FOR THE DAY, not forever.  I was wrong.  Even though he snores, somehow I can motor through that.  Jake takes most of his cues from Melvin so he has learned to hunker down.  Sometimes, if I get sick, I turn and he is there.  Staring at me with THAT face and THOSE eyes.  Almost as if to say ‘I’m here, you OK’?  Best. Medicine. Ever.

My only rule of migraines is that once they are over, we don’t dwell, we don’t spend hours kvetching about lack of cures.  It’s the least I can do for a life that has given me three awesome migraine dogs!

I mean seriously, imagine waking up to this face!

Jake has a new obsession girlfriend. If you want to know where he’s at , it’s on top of her, at all times.

Meet Fluffy Pillow, she’s actually a twin but Jake has not figured out that there is another one of her at the opposite end of the couch.

I understand the pawing, but I don’t get what he’s doing when he throws his head back over and over and arches his back! It’s almost like a hair flip, but he’s bald.

It appears that at some point in life (pre-us), Jake had some sort of spinal injury.  We don’t have any details on that but we do know now that from that, he now has spinal cord scarring.  I saw the area on his spine that has the scarring when the neurologist showed me his MRI.  At the time, the theory was that area was either injury, scarring or cancer.

Since Jake showed no improvement the last few weeks on medication, we have ruled out current injury.  Since he did not deteriorate drastically, we are ruling out cancer.  That leaves scarring.  In this scenario, injury would have been best, but scarring is way better than cancer.

So this is our new way of life.  Jake’s legs are pretty good about 75% of the time and not and not good the rest of the time (of his awake hours).  It’s likely he will stay this way and that we can anticipate an eventual, yet hopefully gradual, decline over the course of his life. We are going to try rehab.  They don’t anticipate it will help but since it won’t hurt, I’d obviously like to TRY.

It’s all good.  One of my favorite sentiments is that (and I’m sure it’s an actual quote but I’m not sure of its exact wording)… The hurdles and twists and turns in the path, are in fact, the path.  I have always tried to remind myself and others that come good times or challenging times, this is your life, don’t forget to live it!  So we have leapt into Wonkyville, made Jake the mayor and plan to make the very best of our time here!

When Jake’s legs go out now, he just lays down for a bit.  If his legs start sliding out from under him, he props himself up against a wall. From Jake we learn, ‘if you stumble-make it part of your dance’.  I love that dog.

Here is a photo of Jake being super-stylish at the neurologist and two others of the brothers…

The boys got some new Sirius Republic collars (shocking I know!) and some super cool snoods from Sirius also! (Thank you, SR, WE LOOOOOOVEEEEE YOU!)  To be fair, Jake’s neck is growing (in his sixth year of life) so I have to replace some of the collars I already have for him.  Fear not, we are OF COURSE donating his too-small-collars to dogs in need!

Also, our dog walker is a crazy talented knitter and has made Jake (Melvin’s is coming!) a new sweater!  She sent me the photo middle of the day yesterday and I had to laugh.  For a nano-second I swore I could hear Jake singing: ‘won’t you be my neighbor’.  I’m so in love with it, it’s like a blanket!

Jake was having a good-legs morning (yay!) so the boys romped in the snow for all of four minutes (which is a lot for them since 1. it’s zero degrees and 2. they dislike being wet)…

By the time I got my phone and managed to click through to ‘take video’, he’d already smelled Melvin’s lower half. Daily, he takes time to smell every inch of his brother.

Also, enjoy some good footage of Jake’s rolly-polly-waddle-neck.  It’s becoming epic.

Today, in honor of MLK day, let’s all do something.  Promote peace. Be a voice for someone (or something) who can’t speak up for themselves.  Don’t look the other way, instead, decide to stare something down – bullying, ALL forms of discrimination, cruelty of ANY kind.

The key to a better today, a brighter tomorrow – is us. Do. Something.

The boys of course are going to nap, but it’s on a couch with a ‘peace’ pillow so there’s that.

When I moved into my previous house the hardwood floors were VERY light.  Max was a chocolate lab.  All I ever saw was his hair.  So when we replaced the hardwood floors, we went with dark.  One month later, Melvin came.  He is light-haired.  Max left us a few month later.  Lesson learned, never attempt to match your hardwood floors to your dog’s hair color.

In this house, the hardwoods I choose were middle of the road.  A color called saddle.  Melvin’s hair shows up but not terribly.  Same for Jake.  The house gets cleaned weekly, I vacuum every other day (for Melvin’s allergies). For the most part, the hair does not bother me.  Ask anyone at work, I have dog hair on every thing I wear.  Who cares.

But there is one rug that drives me nuts. It’s the rug where the couch and the TV are. The one where we spend the most time. It’s black.  I could vacuum one spot on that rug for for days and the moment I turn it off, a blond hair will float down onto it. Then four million more. That rug mocks me. Last week I was sitting on the couch and I had to question why I had a black rug in the first place.  WHY?  WHYYYYYYYY?  I can only ignore the supposed-to-be-black-rug-but-its-not-anymore rug for so long.  So I ordered a light-colored rug.  I thought, hey, one surface on the main floor of the house can look hair free!   It came and I can’t see a single dog hair on it.  Yay, right?

First night, red wine spill.  It was just a little and it came up but I realized I need to give up, let it go.  Deal!  You win dog hair, you win!

Here are the boys laying on the rug that will never show their hair, but will show EVERYTHING else!

Am I allowed on this rug?

Are we both allowed on it?

I wonder how long until he throws up on it. 

Or the little one shoots a meatball out on it. 

Who cares cause look how cute they are!

And Melvin’s throne that chair, covered in dog hair! Wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Happy weekend!

Yo.  It’s Jake.  Stuff’s going cray over here.  First off, wetness falls from me, pretty much all the time.  Am I a sprinkler now?  All I know is I walk, and turn back and there is liquid.  I sleep, and when I wake up, it’s like I’m in a stinky hot tub. Thankfully, She really enjoys cleaning so it’s almost like I’m giving her a gift.

Also, and this is really weird, but I think my butt is getting too big.  I mean, that must be it.  It’s getting too big and my legs can’t hold it up so they fall down.  I mean I have eyes that can see my backside, even when my face is forward and although it doesn’t look any bigger, what else could make my legs fall except for a heavy boo-tay.  I know my name is Jake, but maybe it should be J-Lo.  Baby got back.

When my legs fall down, my giant butt hits the ground.  Sometimes my legs go backwards and my stomach hits.  None of it is good folks, I look like I’m drunk.  I mean thank goodness the paparazzi has not caught it on camera, YET.  I only dressed up like Snooki for Halloween, that is not really who I am.

When I wake up, sometimes my back legs don’t feel like walking.  Maybe they are tired of holding up my big butt or maybe they are afraid that my butt got bigger while I slept.  I either swim on the hard floor or she carries me.  She must be so strong.

She took me to an all day doctor, I ain’t falling for that one again.  They did all kinds of stuff to me.  They did so much stuff that I must have fallen asleep.  Apparently, some sort of hazing occurred while I was napping because I woke up with a shaved head, leg and stomach.  I’m a punk bulldog, I don’t do fraternities.  Why on earth would they haze me or shave my precious body?  Those areas itch now, thanks jerks.

So that’s what’s up with me.  I create wetness and my butt is so big it broke my legs.  One good thing is that my brother apparently likes sprinklers with broken gams cause he is all up in my love junk trunk.  He’s so cool.  And no matter what, my ass could never be as big as his, so that makes me feel better and love him even more.

Happy Tuesday readers.  J(ake)-Lo out.

Gratuitous booty shot:

A while ago I posted about Jake’s need for alone time.  Sometimes when I find him like THIS, he is just needing some time to himself. Other times, he’s done something and remorse is weighing heavy.

He continues to be this dog who seeks solace in self-imposed time outs.

Willy Wonky legs is doing about the same.  I wouldn’t say he is better but I can confirm he is not worse so I view this as a positive!  His legs tend to give out on him at inopportune times.  Like when he first wakes up and wants to burst out of the condo and make love to the closest rug, his energy level does not match his hind leg strength/weakness.  His legs also tend to give out when he’s pooping.   His butt usually ends up falling into said poop. Hey thanks universe!  Also, his response to prednisone is unlike Melvin’s response.  They are the same in that they have to pee A LOT but Melvin senses he needs to pee and asks to go out.  Jake can miraculously be drinking water AND peeing at the same time. True story. We are on the downward taper of the prednisone now, THANK THE GOOD LORD!  We ran out of Nature’s Miracle last night, I didn’t even think that was possible because I had so much. 

Melvin knows something is up with Jake and he is both über sweet and extremely challenging.  Sweet in that when Jake is struggling and sending a panicked vibe, Melvin goes to him and nudges him or licks him or just generally stands near him.  Extremely challenging in that they are dogs, and siblings. Melvin expects to go through doors before Jake, down steps before Jake, to get to the front door to bark at the Brown Truck guy before Jake.  In these moments, I almost have to scoop Jake up so that he does not get hip-checked or trampled.  We are figuring it out!

We have a follow-up appointment next week.  Until then, happy weekend!  Hopefully you are all warming up or at least getting back to a normal vortex.

I’m sorry I pee’d in my bed, again.  I wake up and it’s just there.

Hey Lady, he pee’d again.  I’m staying up here to remain dry.

Follow us at @tholupka_ohmelvin

The moment Jake’s legs started giving out I immediately reached out to people who might be able to share their dog’s similar experience with me.  One of those lovelies was an Instagram friend @pugmaize. I have never met @pugmaize. I found her through a friend (Emily from Our Waldo Bungie). All I really knew was that I loved her photos and through those pictures I knew she had a Pug and that Pug had wheels (who I secretly plan to ‘borrow’ at some point for squeezing and snuggling,  Pug not the wheels). So I sent her a FB message to ask if I could inquire about Pug’s road to wheels.  I figured she’d message me back eventually (after she contemplated if I was a stalker and weighed risk factors).  Oh no, within two minutes she reach out with a ‘hell yes, how can I help’ and gave me her phone number.  HER PHONE NUMBER!  I’m a stranger!  Sure, my blog is funny and the pictures are cute but this awesome human being was taking precious evening minutes and saying, ‘here, take my time, call me, let’s talk’.  Holy crap, life can really deliver an angel when needed most.  I hung up from that call, happy.  Feeling more capable. Reminded of how freaking wonderful people can be.

So 1. @pugmaize is beyond the comprehension of coolness.  I encourage all of us to be more like her.  Take time for others, reach out to strangers even.  Chain reaction this one folks, let’s call it ‘pulling an @pugmaize’!

And 2.  This blog and social media community of animal lovers we are in, well, please let me live here forever.  Know that if any of you need what I needed the other night, I will be here, there, anywhere and I will pay this kindness forward.  Support, compassion, humor during difficulty – yes, please!

Jake (and Melvin!) say Happy Tuesday!