Basenji Troublemakers

February 5, 2012

2012-02-05T22:39:00.000-08:00

I fixed Dannii a scrambled egg for breakfast, and lo and behold, he ate it. He hasn't eaten an egg in quite a few days, and the last time, was at night. I knew the egg was not enough, so I warmed up some chicken thighs (he seems to like them warm, compared to being cold), and he ate two whole thighs! It makes me feel good when he eats.

A beautiful day, today. Normally, we go to the dog park on Sunday's, but since my friend is so busy with work, I truly hate going by myself. So, we stayed home today, and I let Dannii outside.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2603118593865

Am not sure if the above link will work or not, unless you have a Facebook account. It is a video taken today of Dannii outside. I guess once I post this, I will find out of it works or not. You may have to copy and paste. But just a reminder, if you don't have a Facebook account, it won't work, regardless. Just thought I would try and see if I can post a video here, without having to post it to You Tube.

This little guy was crying, as he was in a pen all by himself. Not sure why, or where his mother was at. When I was taken the video of Dannii just before he crossed the road (the above link), this little guy came running up to the fence. Normally, lambs and sheep will not get near someone they do not know. As you can see, he was very friendly, or else, very hungry. He did not try to bite my fingers and he did let me pet him.

This was taken back on our side of the road, after the video. The house in the back ground is not occupied. The people who used to live there, had chickens, and Dannii loved to go and chase the chickens, when he managed to escape out the front door. He wasn't looking for any chickens today, however.

I let Zak outside after Dannii went back in. The cat's name is Mocha. Her momma was a feral cat, and a few years ago, she had a litter of kittens under my back porch, and Mocha was one of them. I truly would have loved to have kept her, but at the time, Jenna would have killed her. So, my neighbor adopted her. I like to think we have co-ownership in her, altough she lives next door. I am surprised that she didn't run from Zak, as he would have given chase, and then I'm not sure what would have happened.

I let Jenna out, after I took Zak back in the house. Now, she took off and went down to the road, and wouldn't listen to me. I finally got her attention, and she came back, such a good girl. Yeah, right! LOL. That's one reason, I don't let her out too often, she doesn't listen, and she will take off. Where Zak did just what Dannii had done, just walked around and checking things out. MsPriss, here was going to take off down the road. If she had done that, then I would have had to get in the car to go after her! Next time, IF there is a next time, I am putting her on a leash.

Still in my jammies, but wanted to get a photo of Dannii and I, while my son was willing. Am goofing off, as I truly do not take good photos. Where I think I am smiling, I look like I am frowning or something. UGLY.

My son captured this picture of Dannii. He is one handsome dude, if I do say so myself. Is it any wonder, why he's my baby?

Well, here's the ugly picture I was talking about. I had the sun in my eyes and my son was taking so long in snapping the photo. I had a heck of a time getting up, and had to have my son help me. It is the pitts getting old. I don't feel old. Still feel like that 18 year old kid that I once was, only thing is that my body will not let me do the things that I used to do!

I had made a pot roast for dinner, along with mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans, etc. I'm wondering what Dannii would eat for dinner, that maybe he was getting a bit tired of the chicken thighs. So I gave him some of the roast with potatoes and tad bit of gravy and some beans. At first he just walked up slowly like he normally does, and sniffs to see if he might be interested in whatever I may have dumped in his bowl. He caught a sniff of the meat, and the rest is history as they say. He ate very well tonight. I was most happy. I hadn't seen him eat like that in a very long time.

The vet changed his Metoclopramide (nausea meds) over to Cerenia. There was only 4 tablets, and am suppose to give one once a day. I think they are helping. At least I hope so. But I will not get them through my vet again. They charged me $23.00 just for 4 pills. I can get them online for around $10.00. Will call Walmart and see if they carry it, and how if so, how much. I also upped his prednisone tablets, from 1.5 tablets a day to twice a day. Back in October, when the tumor shrunk way way down, my vet said to lower the prednisone. I believe that's why it came back so quickly. I should have upped it back then, but wasn't truly thinking straight then either.

He's not going to recover. I know that. But, I sure would like to have some more time with him. I am not ready to loose him yet. Am hoping for several more months, if the good LORD see's fit. Would truly love to have him make it to his next birthday which is not until December 12th. I know that seems impossible, but with GOD ALL things are possible. Just as long as he's not in any pain. However long Dannii is here with me, I will cherish.

Well, that's it for today. You all come back again, now hear?

February 3, 2012

2012-02-05T21:17:00.000-08:00

February 2, 2012

2012-02-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

Have a call into the vet. Dannii still isn't eating. Last night, he ate a small, and I do mean, small amount of lasagna. Ate a couple pieces of lunchmeat, and is drinking Dog Sure, along with drinking some water. Oh, he did he about a half of a chicken breast earlier in the day. Someone said the feed him chicken thighs, so am going to pick some up on the way home for work tonight.

Waiting to go outside. I can't let the other two dogs out, when Dannii is out, as all three of them, will take off and not come back. I had not been able to even let Dannii outside by himself, as he would take off, now, he just hangs around and doesn't venture too far. However, if the other two were out, all three of them would be gone in a flash! NOT going to happen.

Outside, looking for kitties. None to be seen for now.

Ready to go back inside. You can barely seen Jenna and Zak through the screen door.

Now you can truly see how much weight, Dannii has lost. Tuesday at the vets, he weighed in at 21.9 pounds. Way too thin for him. Wish he would eat.

Back in his favorite chair. Still one handsome dude, I think. But, then he's my baby, so I can say that. Still haven't had the chance to get my son to take some photos of Dannii and I together. Want to get that done, before Dannii really takes a turn for the worse.

You all come back again, now hear?

February 1, 2012

2012-02-02T11:45:00.000-08:00

Dannii still isn't eating, but just drinking Dog Sure. Am giving him his sub q fluids. Sure wish he would eat.

Dannii went outside today. I don't know how he does it, with not him eating and all.

We are in the country, with lots of feral cats, and here Dannii chased one under an old car. "Here kitty, kitty. Please come here, kitty, kitty".

Back in the house.

January 31, 2012

2012-02-01T11:34:00.000-08:00

When I got up this morning, I had seen some liquid on the floor, upon further inspection, I realized that Dannii had thrown up the chicken that he ate last night. He was laying on his dog pillow, and he didn't move, and some of the watery liquid had soaked into the pillow! I gently held him by the collar, and got him up off the pillow. He walked into my room, and I had to help him get up on the bed. He was not looking good at all. I had thought it was probably his time. I had called the vets, and explained what was going on. They asked if I could bring him in, so they could check him out and see if they could do something for him to make him more comfortable. I said, ok.

The vet's office had ordered some Elspar for Dannii and we had been waiting for it to come in. Hopefully today. When Dr. Cole came in, she didn't like the looks of Dannii, and first thing she said was that he needed some sub q fluids as he is dehydrated. She is not his normal vet, it was her day off. Dr. Cole also said that she was going to send home some sub q fluids for me to administer to Dannii and that they would show me how to do that. The Elspar came in while we were there, and I was truly happy about that. So, they said that they were going to give Dannii a shot of Benadryl just to make sure that he doesn't have a reaction to the Elspar. So they did that, then they showed me how to do the sub q fluids. Said I can pick Dannii up in a couple of hours and to call around 3:30pm.

I was suppose to work today, had three students. So, I had to call the office. Julie already knew I was at the vets. She didn't want to move the students to today, (Wednesday) saying that they really wanted to get out since they now have their permit, so she was going to move them to another instructor. I was willing to work today, to make up for yesterday, but didn't work out that way. Oh well............

Dannii has me scared. I truly looked into his eyes, and I saw him looking right back at me. Is it his time?

Dannii on my bed. It was right after taking this photo that I called the vets and took him in.

I picked Dannii up around 4pm. He looked a bit perkier. I went out to Pet Club to buy some DogSure. They were out. They guy had said that he ordered some two weeks ago, and they have yet to receive any. So, I had to go back into town and went to Petco. The DogSure out at Pet Club is $4.89 a can, at Petco, its $8.98 a can. Petco only had two cans. So, I grabbed them, plus they had some can's of mother's milk for puppies, and I grabbed two of them (they were cheaper than the Dog Sure). At the check out stand, I told the gal ringing me up, that the Dog Sure out at Pet Club was only $4.89. She called her manager up, and I got a matched price!. I didn't know they did that!. Will have to keep it in mind for future reference.

When we got home, Dannii ate one or two bits of food out of Zak's bowl. Drank some water, and went and laid down in his chair. When I fed Jenna and Zak, Dannii came in but didn't truly want to eat, so I opened a can of Dog Sure, and he drank almost half. Left the rest, and went back and laid down. A couple of hours later, I gave him the rest of the Dog Sure, and he drank almost all of it, probably maybe a 1/4 of it left. So, I put it in the frdge. He ate a little bit of my lasagna and later on, he ate a couple pieces of boiled liver.

I was truly hoping that I would have seen a marked improvement by now, well at least some kind, anyway. Dr. Cole, had told me to hold off on the phenobarbital until today, and to take his prednisone back up to 1 1/2 tablets twice a day. That we really want to try and get this tumor shrunk down so Dannii can have some comfort for a while.

Well, that's about it for now. You all come back again, now hear?

January 30, 2012

2012-02-01T11:07:00.000-08:00

Dannii is not doing good today either. He did get to go outside at home, and he did alot better than what he did at the park yesterday. I was just wondering why the difference.

Zak

Jenna

January 29, 2012 Basenji Meet-up

2012-01-31T23:14:00.000-08:00

This guy is called "Hooter". He is part basenji and something else. He was very nice, but someone had cropped his tail. He does yodel from what his slaves were saying.

Dannii was not doing good today at all. Has me really worried. What a difference in him today, from the last couple of days!


Hooter and Dannii

Zorro and Roxie. First time Roxie has been off leash at the park

This was not a good day at all for Dannii. He acted like a little old man. All hunched over like he had to go poo every few minutes. He perked up when we got to "our" picnic table and I handed out some treats, but that did not last long. Was telling everyone that this is probably his last meet-up. I sure hope not.

You all come back again, now here?

January 25, 2012

2012-01-31T23:04:00.000-08:00


Dannii raiding neighbors garbage can


Zak

Zak sitting on Dannii

Dannii not sure if he like's Zak sitting on him

Jenna curled up in a ball, asleep

January 24, 2012

2012-01-31T22:52:00.000-08:00

Dannii and Zak

I just caught the dates on the last couple of entries that I made, and realized that I was still putting in 2011. Am sorry, all the pictures that just have dates in the title were taken in 2012.

Jenna

January 17, 2012

2012-01-31T22:43:00.000-08:00

January 15, 2011

2012-01-31T22:37:00.000-08:00

Jenna and Dannii

Zak

The 3 basenji troublemakers

Jenna in front, Dannii in the back

Dannii in front, Zak walking away

January 13, 2011

2012-01-31T22:17:00.000-08:00


Mocha, was found as a kitty under out back porch, neighbor adopted her

Shadow, lives with Mocha


Jenna

Zak

January 12, 2011

2012-01-31T22:06:00.000-08:00

Shadow, neighbor's pitbull/boxer mix

Since the days have been truly nice and fairly warm, I had been letting Dannii outside so he could get some exercise. We went to the dog park last on the 1st of this month. Just didn't feel like going by myself, as the friend I usually meet up with, has been busy, and not been able to make it.

January 11, 2011

2012-01-31T21:56:00.000-08:00

Let Dannii outside. He seemed to do well. He didn't take off like he normally did. Stayed pretty much right around the house.

Not a good New Year, so far

2012-01-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted for awhile. Things have been going down hill with Dannii. In the last few weeks, he has almost stopped eating completely. That's not good. He still drinks water, and he still goes out and pee's and he tries to poo. But the mass in his rectum, is giving him problems. He is straining and straining like he did before he got his Elspar shot back in the first of November. Would have like to have done another one, but I don't have the $250.00 for the vet to order and I honestly do not know if it would do him any good at this point.

This picture was taken on New Years eve, and that is Girl Cat. My son found her and her brother (Boy Cat, and he has since disappeared over a year ago) after their mom abandoned them in a storm. Had no intention on keeping them, but we did.

As you can see by the date, this was taken on January 1, 2012, and we were at Point Isabel. Zak is sitting front and center, while Dannii is looking on, in the background.

This is Dannii, and he looks so good. He (at least to me), he doesn't look to be 13 years old, nor does he look to be sick with cancer. But he is. I was thinking that maybe this was going to be his last outing to the park. I still am not sure if it will be or not. I hope it isn't.

Taken on January 6, 2012. Trying to rest, and hoping that I would quit taking pictures of him!

I think he still looks pretty good for an ol guy! This was taken yesterday, outside in front of the house. Normally when he gets out, he takes off. Not this time, so I knew he wasn't feeling too well. He just kind of hang out in the front, looking and smelling a few things. I had to get something out of my car, so the door was opened and he jumped inside. Was checking out his water bowl that I normally keep but of course it was empty.

I let him outside today, but forgot to grab the dang camera. He wondered over to the side yard, then walked over to the neighbors yard, and was sniffing and smelling Shadow. She is a pitt bull mixed with boxer, and just one of the sweetest dogs you will ever meet. Then Dannii walked around to their side yard to poo, he was outside the fence line, and Shadow came outside to say hello. Dannii just kind of ignored her, and he went back to our yard, and was smelling the trees. Guess a dog peed there. I opened the storm door, hoping to get inside to grab my camera, but he came and walked right into the house. Normally, I would have to wait for him to finish running around and smelling all the different smells, before he would come in. Am just wondering how much longer he would have stayed outside if I didn't open that stupid storm door?!!

He hasn't eaten hardly anything today. I resorted to shoving his nausea pills and his appetite stimulant pills down his throat, just so he would be able to eat something later on. A little while ago, he did eat a small amount of cat kibble. He loves cat food, so I just let him have it, but he didn't eat very much this time. Hopefully, we will eat after a while now.

We are just taking it one day at a time. If I hadn't had so much to do today, I should have taken them to the dog park. It is a beautiful day for this time of year, here.. Its been in the low to mid 60's. Normally, we would be having a ton of rain, and some storms right about now. But am glad the weather is still good. Not good because of all the dry grasses and such, but it would be nice if the weather could hold like this until after its Dannii's time to leave and cross the rainbow bridge. I just want him to be able to enjoy the nice weather for as long as he can.

Sunday 12-18-11

2011-12-22T20:37:00.000-08:00

Well, today is my son's 36th birthday, and he went over to his dad's for dinner. Kayli (son's daughter) was coming over also. He had not seen his daughter for almost 2 months, due for one reason or another, since she lives in another town.

Since I was not invited, I took the dogs to the annual basenji meet-up at Point Isabel. I think we had about 10 basenji's. Last month, I think it was something like 12-14.

Zak, courtsey of M.C,

I don't know why, but half the time when you take a picture of Zak, he always looks sad. Or, maybe he's just looking for food and nobody will give him any?

Jenna, courtsey of M.C.

Not to many picture's of Jenna, straight on. Either she has turned her head or something, like this one. Not a bad profile shot.


Courtsey of M.C

Then, Dannii is, well, Dannii

Beta

We met this little guy, named Beta. Very cute, if I do say so. Nobody was sure of what he is, M.C. thought he looked like something that I can't even begin to pronounce, let alone spell, other's thought he "might" be a basenji mix. Same size, ears, and curly tail. But, oh so cute, and so very friendly.

From left to right, Dannii, Scout, Zak and Jenna

Not too often that we can get a shot like this, its too bad that Baree wasn't in the picture.
This photo is courtsey of M.C.

Jenna on the left, and Zak

Now this picture would have been complete, if only Dannii had gotten onto the table. Even though neither Jenna or Zak are looking at the camera (me), I still think it turned out ok.

Well, that's it for the dog park this time around. You all come back again, now hear?

12-14-11 San Franciso Palace Hotel Gingerbread Houses & Christmas Tree

2011-12-14T15:35:00.000-08:00

Golden Gate Bridge made out of Gingerbread

I had my Deposition with the courts in San Francisco this morning. This is for the accident that I had nearly two years ago. It was the other guy's fault, and his insurance company does not want to pay very much, so which is why we are going to go to court!

I don't drive in San Francisco because I don't know my way around down there, and there are just too many one way streets. So I had a neighbor who was kind enough to take me and wait for me.

When I came out, the Palace Hotel was right across the street, so my neighbor took me inside to show me around. I have never ever been inside there before. Mainly he wanted to show me the giant Christmas tree that they had up in the middle of the dinning room. It was stunning. I couldn't even begin to guess how tall that tree was. I guess I should have asked somebody, but I didn't.

Palace Hotel Christmas Tree

People were eating lunch or whatever, and they didn't seem to mind that we were taking pictures. The chanderliers were stunning, really a beautiful room.

Just off to our right from this Christmas tree photo, they have quite a few Gingerbread houses up. I didn't get the names on all of them, so you will just have to kind of go along with the flow. I "kind of" remember a few of them, but not all.

Victorian Houses

I don't really remember the name of this one, but as you can tell they are of the Victorian Houses in San Francisco. Truly the photos do not do them justice. Up close and personal, they were really stunning, and amazing.

I Left my Heart in San Francisco

Now you all should know this one! I left my heart in San Francisco! Again, photo does not do it justice. The handiwork is very meticulous on the gingerbread houses. It just doesn't show up in the photos.

This one had something to do with Santa and his Reindeer.

Underneath all the gingerbread houses they had the name of the person who made it and what the name of the house is. Course I didn't get photos of that, as then you wouldn't be able to see the houses themselves.

To make this about Dannii, he's still holding his own, still eating. Just still having problems getting him to eat his flaxseed oil and cottage cheese, unless I mix something in with it, then he will eat it. Like I said before, he used to eat it by itself, and even lick the bowl clean, not anymore, I have to mix something that he likes, or he won't eat it. :>(

Ok now, you all come back again, now hear?

Happy 13th Birthday to Dannii

2011-12-12T19:21:00.000-08:00

This past week has been unremarkable. Dannii has been eating like he should. Still have some problems with getting him to eat his flaxseed oil and cottage cheese, but if I add something to it, then he will eat it. I much prefer if he would eat it with out me having to add anything to it.

For breakfast he got his flaxseed mixed with cottage cheese and then I added in a good handful of ground turkey, and a egg. He gobbled it up. I was then going to give him a can of sardines, but Jenna did not finish her breakfast, so Dannii cleaned out her bowl. So, so much for the sardines, he will just have to wait now.

I didn't have to work today, as I had no students, so since I have NO money to do anything with or able to go anywhere, we just stayed home, and sacked out by the fire.

For a snack, Dannii got a bit of a scrambled egg. It was not a full egg, but I did give him some of mine.

Zak is my garbage can on four feet. He thinks he is entitled to eat whatever and where ever, he wants. This guy needs to go a diet big time.

It was truly a lazy day for all of us. For dinner Dannii got some boiled liver mixed in the can of sardines from earlier in the day. He looks pretty content now that his tummy is full.

When he was first diagnosed with lymphoma back in October, the vets did not think Dannii would make it to see this day. But here he is, in all his glory. He's 13 today, and if I can do anything to help things along (with the Lords help, of course), Dannii will make it to his 14th birthday, and prayerfully beyond.

12-4-2011 Sunday and the dog park

2011-12-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

Golden Gate Bridge, with ship underneath

Turned out to be a beautiful day down at Point Isabel. Sun was out, and not cold at all. Although I did have my jacket with me. My arms seem's to get cold real bad, so I just like to have something with long sleeves.

I know the coloring in this beautiful dog may not show up well, but he was a very good looking dog. He fit right in with the rest, looking for treats!

Our gang always take over this picnic table. If you squint and look closely, you can see the Bay Bridge straight down. Beautiful blue skies, what more can I say?

Zak on the far left, Baree, and Scout

Lots of people and dogs at the park today. My camera still isn't working, so I "borrowed" my son's camera. Same as mine, but a tad bit older, but at least it works!


Baree in back, Dannii looking down

Zak found something down that hole!

I do believe that this if the first decent picture that I have gotten of Jenna! Course Dannii is not paying attention to anyone, and neither is Zak, but look who's looking at me! Jenna, of course! I think that's a good picture of her.

Naturally now nobody is paying attention. That is par for the course. Dannii doesn't look happy, Zak is indifferent, and who knows what Jenna is looking at?

I gave Dannii a mixture of 1 teaspoon of flaxseed oil and 1 tablespoon of cottage cheese and mixed together. He got breakfast of his kibble an hour after that. Then we left for the park. That may be why Dannii is not looking too happy.

When we got home, I gave him another mix of the flaxseed oil and cottage cheese. He had 2 small chicken breasts with some broccoli and cauliflower and parsely. I was truly surprised that he ate it all up! He's not one for veggies. I bought the broccoli fresh, and then steamed it, the cauliflower was frozen, and yes, I cooked it, instead of letting it thaw out. Next time, I will buy frozen, and let them thaw, but I may still have to steam them as I tried to give Dannii some fresh broccoli, and he wouldn't even touch it! Steamed, he ate it up!

You all come back again, now hear?

12-3-2011 Saturday and Dannii's mass is coming back

2011-12-03T17:03:00.000-08:00

This is a first for me. I have not worked ALL week, and the office told me that I have NO students for Monday, either. I do not like this. I can't pay any of my bills. This is making me sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

Its nice to have this time off, but since I am so worried about how to pay any bills and such, let alone get any food in the house, I haven't been able to do much around the house, but sit and mope, or be on the computer.

Christmas is in a few weeks, and of course, I have no money to speak of. I truly do not like this feeling. I trust in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, but the weak part of me, is scared. I only have one paycheck coming in next week, and that is for 10 hours. After they take taxes out, I am not going to have anything left.

Ok, enough of that. Yesterday I followed Dannii outside to see if he was going to go poo. Which he tried. He's back to straining, but nothing like he was doing before. So, I called the vet to see what they would charge, just to do a rectal exam. No charge. So I brought him in around closing time. The vet did the rectal right there in the waiting room. Yep, its coming back. Not very big yet, but was big enough for Dannii to yelp and whine when she inserted her finger in his rectum. Two weeks ago, there was nothing there, so she told me to drop Dannii Prednison from 1.5 tablets, down to just 1 tablet. I wonder if that is the reason for this returning? So, now he's back up to the 1.5 tablets. She also told me to truly consider starting the CCNU (which is a chemo pill). The only thing is, that after 21 days, he would be off of it for 7 days, and in there somewhere, they would need to do the CBC/Chem panel to check his liver values, and his white blood cells. If that's not done, I could be killing Dannii, and not even know it.

With No money coming in, I don't know how I would be able to pay to have the CBC/Chem panel done? The oncologist, does not take payments in any way shape or form. My vets office is not all that big, so they are not able to do everything that they oncologists office can do.

I mixed 2 tablespoons of organic cottage cheese, with 1 teaspoon of Barleans 100% organic flaxseed oil, and 1 egg. Ended up like a smoothie, and Dannii drank it all up! He even was licking the bowl clean afterwards.

You all come back again, now hear?

11-29-2011 Zak's 7th birthday

2011-11-29T22:51:00.000-08:00

Today is Zak's 7th birthday. This box is what I usually put kindling in, but it was empty, and so Zak decided to be "Zak in a box"! Couldn't help but takin' the picture.

For breakfast he got some of his regular kibble, plus he also got some oatmeal. I was thinking of scrambling some eggs, but I was in the mood for oatmeal, so he got some oatmeal also.

Jenna took over Groucho's bed. For some reason she likes it, and the cat doesn't. Her birthday is next month. Does this bed make her look "fat"?

Dannii likes to curl up in what I call the "dog chair", since Zak was the one who dug to China in the seat. There is only about an inch of foam right above the springs. Good enough for the dogs, I guess.

Zak sitting in front of the woodstove. He is always around the stove, either in front, or on the side. He doesn't care, as long as he is as close as he can get, without actually being right inside of the stove itself!

Zak had gotten some treats throughout the day, not too many, as I am trying to get him to loose some weight. For dinner, he got half of a can of wet food, plus some raw liver. Now, he got a little bit of raw liver last week, and he ate it. Tonight, he ate all around the liver, wouldn't touch it, and neither did Jenna. But, she's a priss, so what do you expect? Dannii however loves raw liver, and he scarfed it up like there was no tomorrow.

I have not worked at all this week so far. I am trying to put all of my trust in the Lord to help carry me through this. I can't afford to pay the second half of my rent for this month. Wednesday (tomorrow) is my normal day off, so I hope and pray that I will be working Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I signed up for unemployment last Friday, and they will probably use that as my waiting period, I'm not sure. All I know is that I am going to go several weeks with no paychecks. That is going to hurt big time.

Even if I had wanted to start the CCNU for Dannii, I can't afford to now. I wouldn't be able to pay for the CBC/Chem panel that will need to be done, and then having to come up with another $45.00 for the next dose of the CCNU. Right now things are going well for Dannii, and I just hope and pray that things continue as they are right now, for him. Still praying that he will be around for his 14th birthday in Dec. 12, 2012.

That's about it for today. You all come back again, now hear?

11-27-2011 Point Isabel with photos

2011-11-27T20:02:00.000-08:00

Things have been going very well lately. Dannii has been eating, and then even looking for more! I just want to be careful and make sure that he does not get too fat. This here is another sweater that he has. This one, I bought at Walmart.

Today was our annual basenji meet-up at Point Isabel. My friend, Dale did not make it today, as she has family up from the LA area, and they were heading back home later today. We had about 12 basenji's today. One was new, and came down from Sacramento. They had a 8 month old basenji girl, named Sierra. She was a very nice girl, and such a sweetheart. No growling or snarling from this girl.

This here is Sierra. She is a very sweet 8 month old. Takes treats very gently out of your hand. Not the snarking or snarling b-girls that we are used to.

Chris has the oldest basenji. Sunshine is 14, and Cassie is 4, I think. Between me and Dale, her Baree is the oldest at 13, Scout is 12. I think Chris is checking out his video camera, and of course the dogs all thought he had treats to dispense.

Two gals asking questions about the basenji's. Chris is petting Jenna, and Dannii is next to her. Sunshine looks like she is trying to get on Chris' lap.

Chris has his left hand on Dannii, and Zak is standing next to him. That looks to be Sunshine down on the bench. Not sure who belongs to the butt, as the rest of the dog, got cut off.

It was pretty foggy when I left the house this morning to head for the park. I was thinking that probably nobody was going to show up, but was pleasantly surprised that we had as many basenji's that we did. It was just too bad that Dale couldn't make it. It turned out to be a nice day, not really cold, and the sun was out. Hardly any wind at all.

Well, someone mentioned on one of the cancer sites that I am on, that her vet told her to give her dog raw liver, twice a week. I have been giving Dannii liver, but I always cooked it first. Well, last night, I gave all 3 dogs some raw liver. Most of it went to Dannii, on top of his kibble, and Jenna and Zak got smaller pieces. Well, Jenna wouldn't touch it at all, but Dannii and Zak sure chowed it down in no time! I'm not fond of raw liver. I grew up on liver, and I do like it, but it needs to be cooked. But, if raw liver is much better for Dannii, I am willing to do that for him.

When I went to feed them tonight, I "thought" I had given Dannii his phenobarbital pills, but a few minutes later, I couldn't remember if I gave the phenobarbital, or the prednisone! So stupid! He is suppose to only get the prednisone once a day, in the morning, but the phenobarbital, he gets twice a day. So, I gave him another dose of the phenobarbital. I don't think it will hurt him, compared to if I didn't give it to him, but gave him the prednisone instead. He would be having a seizure sometime during the night, and I don't want that.

Angus, I think is in the group photo above. They had to leave early. When we were still waiting for everyone to show up, Angus went up to get some water, and some dog nipped him in the butt, not just on the butt, but his anus also. Greg and Nancy decided to leave and take Angus to the vet to get him checked out. She informed everyone that Angus is ok, that he is on antibiotics, and he got his butt shaved, and I think he also got a shot of some kind. Glad to know that it wasn't anymore serious than that.

Well, that's about it for today. I hope you all come back again, now hear?

Happy Thanksgiving & photos from the 13th

2011-11-24T19:13:00.000-08:00

I didn't make dinner, as it was just me and the dogs and cats. My son had gone up to Oregon, with another friend, to a friend of their's, for Thanksgiving.

I made a stew a few days ago, and so I heated up some of the broth, and poured that over the dogs kibble. Dannii did not get any potatoes, unless they were really, really small. He got some stew meat, carrots, and green beans, plus the broth. I've never seen all 3 of the dogs eat their meals so darn fast!

The batteries have not come in yet for my camera, but it finally dawned on me, that my printer, has a slot for the SD card. So, I inserted the card into the printer, and got them up on the computer. Too bad I didn't think of that last week! Anyway, not really any great photos, but at least you can get to see their sweaters that they wore on the 13th of this month.

This here is Dannii, and his sweater is a blue, and a darker blue, with some black. Jenna's sweater is in pastels. Although it makes it kind of hard to tell.

The morning started out kind of cold, and since the park is right on the water, is why the dogs wore their sweaters. It eventually warmed up, but I still didn't take the sweaters off until we got home.

Baree is the brindle female that has her butt to the camera.

This here is our pack, when we usually meet up every Sunday. My guys are in the sweaters, and Scout is the Tri, and then Baree.

A close up of Dannii. Zak is in the red, and white, and black sweater, in the back ground.

We haven't seen this pack in quite awhile. There are about 4 Italian Greyhounds, 2 Whippets, and 1 Windhound (the longhaired dog off to the side). There is a picture of him in one of the earlier blogs from either last year, or earlier this year.

Am trying to take as many picture of Dannii that I possibly can. This is another close up.

This is the same group as before, just a bit different. Somebody really wants a treat!

Dannii is still eating very well, and still taking his supplements. I just hope this continues. I have the CCNU, but I have not opened the box, and am almost tempted to send it back, but I guess I will hang on to it, just in case, Dannii starts going down hill. I don't really want to use it at all, if I don't have too. The Essiac Tea seem's (maybe, hopefully, besides lots of prayers) to be holding things at bay, besides the Prednisone.

Hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving. You all come back again, now hear?

11-21-11 Monday

2011-11-21T22:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I don't think I actually posted exactly what Dannii gets in the morning. First off, around 5 or 6 am he gets his Essiac Tea, and since its in capsules, I just roll them up in a piece of lunch meat, and he just swallows them down. "Sometimes". Once or twice, he has dropped it and then would just try and tear a piece off a little bit at a time. One time, he even bit down on a Essiac Tea capsule, and just dropped the whole thing!

Now, just before breakfast, he gets his phenobarbital pills (1.5), a pepcid, a Ondansetron pill to help with his loss of appetite, a Mirtazapine, to stimulate his appetite. Sometimes, I will just mix that up with a bit of baby food on a spoon, and let him lick it up. The last couple of days, I wrapped them up in a piece of lunch meat.

Now, we wait for about a half hour or so, for the pepcid to kick in. Now he gets 2/3's cup of Innova Evo Turkey and Chicken. In the mornings, I will wet it with very hot water, not enough to soak it in, but just for a bit of flavor, then I pour off the excess water, and give him the bowl.

About a half hour or so later, Dannii gets his Prednisone pill, a Selenium, a vitamin E, and a SAMe. If I can, I use one piece of lunch meat for all, but found that, that is too many pills, so have to use another slice.

That's it for the morning. If I don't have to leave for work until later in the day, I try and give him something to tied him over until my son can feed him dinner.

Son only gives Dannii dry kibble at the dinner meal. He eats it right up. Sometimes he is still looking for more food, as if he just wasn't getting enough. He also gets his second dose of phenobarbital pills, either in baby food, or lunch meat.

Around 10pm, Dannii gets his second dose of Essiac Tea. These capsules are big, about an inch long, but I put them end to end and roll them up, and give one end to Dannii, and he just inhales it. Now I have the Essiac Tea ready for in the morning. This time, I cut the lunch meat in half, and rolled up one pill in each piece, should make it a bit easier to swallow that early in the morning.

Jenna is still having problems with her mouth. She's leaving her food, even after it has soaked up the hot water, and had been mushed down. The Rimadyl and the antibiotic do not seem to be working. Will need to call my vet in the morning and see what she has to say. I know she will want to do x-rays, but I just can't afford them right now. I just pray that this is nothing too serious with her.

Am off the bed, you all come back again, now hear?

Combined Friday, Saturday, and today Sunday

2011-11-20T18:36:00.000-08:00

First off, I am pretty sure that the batteries are the culprit in my camera not working, and not the charger! I have some new batteries coming, so hopefully that will prove my theory correct.

I started a post on Friday, and was going to finish it up Friday night when I got home from work. I didn't turn the computer off when I left, so when I got home, Firefox had crashed, and all that I had written in the blog (even tho it was suppose to be saved), was gone! Ticked me off to no end. So, now am combining all three days into one.

On Friday morning, I was looking at Dannii, and I just thought that he had seemed "bloated", or fat. Well, fat was not the word I wanted, he just looked "bloated". I don't know how to explain that. He was acting kind of funny when he would walk across the room, like maybe something was bothering him in his neck or back. I did call my vet, and she said to tap his tummy. That if his tummy was tight, or sounded like a drum, then I needed to get him in ASAP. Well, at this point, I'm not home. So would have to wait until I get home at 10pm. His tummy was not tight, nor did it sound like a drum when I tapped on it, so I guess I over-reacted.

My son could not get Dannii to eat Thursday night at all. Neither could I when I got home. I did give him some organic yogurt, and he ate "some" of that.

I was afraid that Dannii was going to quit eating on me, but that was not the case Friday morning. He ate his kibble, and I had no problems in giving him his pills either. Son, said that Dannii ate his dinner and again took his pills.

Dannii, eating

Saturday morning, I didn't have to leave until 10am. Dannii again ate his breakfast and took his pills. It helps by putting his pills into some lunch meat, and then roll it up like a sausage.

This here is a week old, picture of Dannii when he first really started eating. Am still waiting on my batteries for my camera.

Son also said that Dannii ate his dinner and his pills Saturday night. I just hope this keeps up.

The CCNU came in on Friday, but I have yet to start it. Things are going good, and I hate to do something that might change that picture, right now. Am looking into other things (Essential Oils). My pocketbook is not that deep, and I live from paycheck to paycheck. But I want to do all that I can possibly do, to help Dannii live a much longer life. Last month, the vets didn't think he would make it to his 13th birthday, which is in 23 days. Am really praying that I can get Dannii to, and beyond his 14th birthday, which is 12-12-12.

No dog park today though. Even though its not raining, it is cold out, and I just don't feel all that great. Feels like I am either coming down with pneumonia or bronchitis. Coughing up a storm. Am afraid that all the cold air, and being right on the water at the dog park, would do me in, and I can't afford to have that happen right now. So, we are staying home.

Ok, Dannii ate his dinner. I baked a regular potato and sliced it up so all the dogs could get some. I also gave Dannii 2 Beano tablets about 5-10 minutes before he ate. So, hopefully this will cut down on the gas. He ate all his dinner. Jenna left some of her kibble. I sure would like to know what is going on with her mouth. The vet said it was not her teeth, but she "kind of" has stinky breath, not anywhere near as bad as it used to be before she got her dental done. I hope its nothing more serious as I just do not have the funds available to do anything for her, or for Dannii even, at this point.

Well, that's it for now, you all come back it again, now hear?

11-17-11 Thursday

2011-11-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

The problem may be with the batteries for my camera! Here, I thought it was the charger, until my son reminded me that the batteries do give out after a time. So, ordered some new batteries, and hopefully they will be here by tomorrow. Hope, hope, hope.

I wrapped Dannii's pills (the supplements) in lunch meat, course, I can't put all the pills into one rolled up piece of meat, it would be too much. But at least I am getting him to take the selenium and the SAMe. He's taking the Essiac Tea 8. So far so good.

Breakfast was unremarkable. He ate.

I had to work til 9pm, which mean's I don't get home until 10pm. My son called me, and asked a question unrelated to the dogs, but did tell me that Dannii didn't eat. He soaked their food in hot water, Jenna's bowl was empty, but he's not sure if she ate it, or one of the other dogs ate it, and there was still food in Zak's bowl! That's unheard of for Zak. He is the garbage can on four feet, where there is food, he eats it.

When I got home, I couldn't even get Dannii to eat. He did eat some organic yogurt, but it was not alot.

I'm just praying and hoping that this is not the end. All his blood work from the comprehensive CBC looks very, very good. The vet was really, really happy. Just hope and pray that he will eat tomorrow.

You all come back again, now hear?

11-16-11, Jenna went to the vets

2011-11-16T20:59:00.000-08:00

Jenna at Point Isabel

Jenna has been having a bout of what we thought was stomatitis. She went in about a month or so ago for a dental, and a week or two later, she was having problems with her mouth, again.

So, I took her in today. The vet checked her teeth, and they still look good, the gums are a tad bit red on top, but nothing too serious. The vet is checking her mouth, and she wants to look in the back of Jenna's mouth. So I am holding her, and try to open her mouth, and on the left side, toward the back, and near the jaw, she has pain. Lots of pain. The vet could not see anything. She's afraid that whatever it is, its in the jaw area. So, we put Jenna on Rimadyl and antibiotic for a week, to see if this will help. If not, then it boils down to doing x-rays, which at this point I can not afford to do, with what is going on with Dannii right now. So hopefully these meds will help Jenna to feel better, and maybe eat without having to soak her kibble in extremely hot water.

I took Dannii and Zak with me. Mainly I wanted to get him weighed, to see if he has put on some weight, which he did. The CCNU is coming from Arizona and should be here by the end of the week. He will be on that for 21 days, then off for 7 days and have a CBC/Chem panel done (if he doesn't have or show any side effects before hand). I decided to do a comprehensive CBC on Dannii and will get the results tomorrow. He has been shivering, and I've read that low white cell count, can cause that. The vet also thinks (which I don't because he was doing this before any medication), that one of the appetite pills might be causing this. Its possible, I guess.

I have to tell you that Jenna acted like the true lady that she is, and she took a hugh dump right in the waiting room, right in front of the vet herself! I am digging out my baggie and got most of it cleaned up, and out came some spray and paper towels, and the vet herself, cleaned up the rest! But that wasn't the end of that, nope, not by a long shot. Zak had to make his presence known, and he made a hugh lake in the waiting room, right in front of the vet. He couldn't stop, the poor thing, you could just see the relief come across his face. Only one left was Dannii, but he was a gentleman, and waited till we got outside to leave, before he went pee. We were on a roll, two for three, but the third never came!

The morning is nothing to brag about. He gets those 4 pills before breakfast, plus the Essiac Tea 8. He got about 2/3 cup of his kibble mixed with hot water. His kibble doesn't really soak up the water, but I just let it sit there for a bit, and then pout off the excess into another bowl. It was the supplements that I was trying to get him to take before we left for the vets, but he wasn't having it. So I covered it, and waited till we got home.

Dannii still wasn't having much of the supplements, so I added in a egg, and mixed it up, and used a slice of bread (think french toast), to soak some of it up, and put the bread in Dannii's bowl. He eventually ate it up.

For dinner, he got a slice of liver. one whole piece, course it wasn't too big, and I don't think it really filled him up, so I gave him a little bit of canned food, nope wouldn't touch it, added in a touch of wet cat food, and some of his kibble. Still wouldn't touch it. I added in a hugh amount of baby food, and mixed it altogether, and he finally ate it. Just some things turn him off, and I never know what that "thing" is going to be.

The charger came for my camera, but it won't charge the batteries! The guy is going to send me a shipping label to mail it back to him, then he will refund my money. I should have told him to refund my money, and I will mail the charger back as soon as I get the shipping label. Oh well, because if he doesn't refund my money, I will report it, since I got it off of eBay. Now I have to look for another one.

Well, you all come back again, now hear?

11-15-12 Tuesday, and no students :>(

2011-11-15T19:57:00.000-08:00

10-30-11, Dannii at Point Isabel

Am home today, as I had no students. I kind of like this, but then I don't, because my paychecks are very small. With all that is going on with Dannii, I am going to need every penny I can get.

Before breakfast, phenobarbital pill, Ondansetron pill (for loss of appetite), Mirtazapine (to stimulate appetite), and a pepcid, mixed in with some baby food on a spoon, and was down the hatch in no time. I took two Essiac tea 8 pills and put them end to end on a piece of lunch meat, and rolled the lunch meat up into a roll. He ate it without a problem, but one of the pills dropped out! So, I had to get another piece of lunch meat and rolled it up in that, and he ate it, no pill dropping this time.

Breakfast, he gets two scoups of Innova Turkey and Chicken. I heated up some water in the microwave for about a minute and a half. I have to make sure its really hot to soak Jenna's kibble. Added water to all 3 bowls, and waited for a bit, so the kibble could soak up the water. Dannii's food doesn't soak up the water like Jenna or Zak's does, so I just poured off the excess water. Pretty soon every body had eaten and was trying to sack out in the few rays of sun on the floor.

I decided to call the oncologist as I haven't heard back from him since last week. He called me back within ten minutes. He went ahead and ordered the CCNU (chemo drug) from Arizona for me. Dannii need's to be on it for 21 days, then off for 7 days. Somewhere in that time, we do a CBC/chem panel to see how his white blood cells are doing. The pills cost with shipping $50.89. This is going to be on going, until his body stops responding to it. The CBC/Chem panel is going to run $145.00 every 3-4 weeks. He did say, that we wouldn't have to do the chem everytime, but do need to do the CBC to keep check on the white cells, or else, I could end up killing Dannii. Oh dear Lord, help me. What a rotten time for my x to stop spousal support! I sure could use that extra money.

For some stupid reason, my mouse quit working, and its got brand new batteries in it! If its not one thing, its always something else.

I made a smoothie around lunch time for Dannii just so I could get the rest of his pills (supplements) in him. I guess I didn't add enough of something, cuz he wouldn't finish it, and it wasn't really that much. So, again I took some lunch meat and cut it up real small and added it in, drank some, but didn't care for the lunch meat for some reason. Ok, so now I add a little bit of DogSure to the mix, and now he's drinking. I keep adding more DogSure and he keeps drinking until all the liquid is gone, and nothing is left but the lunch meat. So, I split the lunch meat between Jenna and Zak, which both just ate up in no time.

Dinner he got his regular Innova Turkey and Chicken. Boy, I hope he doesn't get tired of that! He will eat it. Also made sure he got his phenobarbital pill afterwards. Now all I have to do is to make sure that he gets his Essiac Tea 8 before we go to bed.

I just got a phone call from my son, who was on his way home. Somebody shot out his passenger door window! Well, its not gone, but its shattered and he's says still cracking. I told him to call the police. He just called me back, and he's now just waiting for the police to show up. I doubt if they will find out who did it. Probably just some punks, not realize what they are doing, or maybe they do, and let it go at that. Son says it had to come from some houses off to his right, well yeah, but which one? Good luck with that one.

Monday 11-14-11

2011-11-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

This is an older picture of Dannii. Taken in September of last year. My camera's charger is on the fritz, so had to order a new charger. Should be here in the next two days or so.

Ok, Monday morning. I used up the last of the Zeal that I had. Had put kibble in each of the dogs bowls, and since Jenna is having chewing problems, I really had to make sure her kibble was mush. I added the Zeal to each of their bowls, and in no time at all, which included Dannii, all the bowls were empty! I guess he finally likes that stuff, but I doubt if I am going to buy any in the near future. I personally did not like the smell of the stuff, and it stayed with me for a long time.

The essiac tea 8 came in on Saturday, so I had been making sure that he is getting that twice a day. Its suppose to be on an empty stomach, in the morning, its not a problem, but I have to make sure I give it to him before bed time, when his tummy is empty. So far, so good. He's been taking it without a problem.

Since I was at work for the dinner meal. I made sure that my son knew how much food to give Dannii and also that Dannii's phenobaribital pills went from 1.5 down to just the one pill. I got home at 8pm, and asked if Dannii ate and yes, he ate all his food. Still was looking for a little bit more. So, gave him a small scoup.

As long as he keeps eating, we're ok. My prayer and wish is for Dannii to make it to his 14th birthday which will be 12-12-12. He's turning 13 next month on 12-12-11, which is 27 days from now.

You all come back again, now hear?

11-12-11 & I'm sick, & 11-13-11 & the dog park

2011-11-14T11:12:00.000-08:00

First off, I got sick Friday night. It was something I ate, as I was throwing up, Sick to my stomach and just couldn't get warm. May sound like to flu to some, but I been taking Selenium and a Ester C for many years now, and have never had the flu. Nope, this was diffentley something I ate. Started trying to call my office manager at 6:30am, but she had her phone off. I did call the office and left a message on the machine there, just to make sure somebody, somewhere knew that I wasn't going to be working today. I finally got ahold of my office manager around 8am. Her cell phone was still off, so its a good thing I called the office again, and she answered. It was all I could do to stay awake that long, and try and keep from throwing up any more. Fell back to sleep, but then the dogs reminded me that they needed their breakfast.

Hard to get out of bed, stomach rolling and turning with my every step. First I had to make sure Dannii got his pills before he could actually eat breakfast. Got all of that over and done with it. Thank goodness he is eating now, and not too much trouble in taking his normal pills. Its only when I try to give him his supplements, do I run into problems. Since I wasn't feeling well, I just left out the supplements, just made sure that he got his pills that he needed.

I gave him about a half of a cup of his Innova Turkey and Chicken which he readily ate up. Thank goodness, he likes that.

Sunday, 11-13-11

Stomach is still a tad queasy, but not like yesterday. Its a nice day. Dannii got his pills. I used some of the Zeal for the dogs breakfast. Since Jenna is having so much trouble with her teeth, I have to truly soak her kibble and then mush it down. She has no problems with the Zeal at all. Dannii ate "some" of his breakfast, but did not finish it. For some reason, this time, Zak left Dannii's bowl alone, and did not finish it off like he normally does.

I also notice that Dannii is shivering, so I put on his dog sweater. Its a tad chilly here at the house, windy outside, so all the dogs get their sweaters on. We went to the dog park, but I can't load any pictures, as all my batteries died, but the charger, itself, quit working. So just ordered a new one, and is suppose to be here on the 17th or 18th, I'll upload some pics then, if I have any good ones, but at least you all will be able to see the sweaters that they were wearing. The sweaters were hand knitted, but not by me. I got them from Sally Wallis who gets "donated yarn", makes the sweaters and sells them on eBay, and the money then goes to BRAT (Basenji Rescue and Transport). I emailed her and asked for some certain colors, if she has the colors, that's fine, if not, then your out of luck, I would guess. I just gave her some general colors, like pastels for Jenna, red and black and white for Zak, some dark and light blues for Dannii. They turned out great, but I think just a bit too big on the sides.
They got alot of compliments on the sweaters of course, and I thought that was great. Course some were looking at us as to why the dogs had the sweaters still on, after now it got warm. I don't know, I was afraid that if I took Dannii's off, he would get the chills, and I didn't want to do that. I also need to let you all know, that Dannii finally had his tail up! He's had it hanging down for so many months now, I think he forgot that the tail does got up!

When we got home, Dannii finished his breakfast. I guess he was still hungry. Good boy. Since he ate the rest of his breakfast, now I had to wait a bit longer before they got their dinner. Again he got his Innova Turkey and Chicken, plain, nothing added, and he ate it up.

I had ordered some Essiac 8 tea in capsules, and I knew they should have been here by now, but weren't. Well, nobody went and checked to mail on Saturday. My son checked the mailbox on Sunday and the tea was there. The capsules are softgels and they are about an inch long, and I'm thinking "oh boy, here we go again". But I took a slice of lunch meat, and laid out two pills, end to end, and rolled up the lunchmeat, like a roll. Dannii didn't even stop, he just inhaled the whole thing! I am thinking this is just a one time thing, and he won't do it again. The pills are for 30 days at 4 pills a day, two in the morning and two in the evening. Not counting when I take some, and they cost $40.00. So now that's another expense I have going to have to make sure that I got covered.

Not to gross anybody out, but before Dannii got on Prednisone, the lymphoma was causing him a hard time to poop, and he would normally have some light blood drip down his backside. Since the prednisone has kicked in the the lymphoma has shrunk, he doesn't strain going to the bathroom now, but instead of having some blood drip down his backside, now its poop. So, I have to make sure that he is really cleaned up after he goes to the bathroom.

I am writing this on Monday morning, and am feeling a bit better. I took a Prevacide and a Pepcid AC and it seems to have quiet my stomach some. I am working today, so I best get on the ball, and get ready.

You all come back again, now hear?

11-10-11 & today 11-11-11

2011-11-11T20:29:00.000-08:00

Whenever we have a memorable day like today 11-11-11; I always try and get some pictures. This here is all the b's hanging out by the wood stove. Dannii is the only one who is paying attention, while Jenna acts like I am intruding, and Zak, he flat out don't care! He's the one way in the back.

Well, I have to say that yesterday, I got Dannii to eat some of the Zeal dehydrated dog food! Of course, I had put some of his kibble on the bottom of his bowl, added hot turkey water to the Zeal and waited for a bit, then added it to all 3 dog bowls. Jenna and Zak ate it up with no problems, and Dannii did to, this time. Before, he wouldn't touch it, until I had put a whole bunch of liver down and mixed it all in.

Even though now that he is eating, he has diarrhea, and for some reason, now he has it sticking to his back-end. Where before, it used to be just blood, now its diarrhea, and dried at that. So, have to take a good warm cloth and wash him off, which I don't think he minds too much. Am not sure what is causing this. Maybe its because he's getting too many supplements at one time or what? I think I will try and hold off on them, and just make sure that he gets his phenobarbital and prednisone pills for now, plus the Ondansetron for loss of appetite, and Mirtazapine to stimulate his appetite. I did increase that one, from a 1/4 of a tablet up to a 1/2, so maybe I will cut that one back to a 1/4 again and see if that will help any. He looks like he is gaining some weight, but not hundred percent sure. No way to really tell for sure, the scales at my regular vets office is "kind of off", its the same scale they had back in the 1980's when I first starting going there. Don't know if it has ever been "calerbrated" or not. I have taken them out to the one pet store that does have a scale, but I think its "off" too. When Dannii was at the oncologist's on the 2nd of this month, he weighed 22 pounds. I am pretty sure I stopped at that pet store on the way home to weigh Dannii, but for the life of me, I don't remember, and I didn't write it down like I usually do.

For some reason, I am not feeling well. Feel like I am coming down with a cold or something. I take a Ester vitamin C and a selenium, and usually I don't ever get sick, sick. But there have been times, like now, where I just don't feel good. Course right now also, I have acid indigestion but I take something for that, but its no longer working. It's generic form, so maybe I need to get the "real thing"?

Jenna is going to the regular vet on Wednesday of next week, to have her mouth checked. I do believe her teeth are bothering her, as she won't eat all of her kibble, even when its soaked to mush. She was coming down with "stomatitis", and she just had a cleaning about two months ago, maybe less, so she shouldn't be going through this right now. My vet did say that sometimes they have to pull all the teeth for the "stomatitis" to clear up, as its up in the gums above the teeth. Great. More bills that I can't afford. Hopefully we can get her on an antibiotic for right now, and see if that will help.

Tomorrow being Saturday, I need to get up early. Had to get up early today, as it was a school holiday, and all the kids were out. Felt like a Saturday to me, but nope, tomorrow is, so I am off the bed, just like the dogs are.

You all come back again, now hear?

Day 15, so far so good, and a call from the Oncologist

2011-11-09T20:53:00.000-08:00


Dannii with his head on my pillow

Ok, since I was awake at 4:30 this morning, but did not actually get out of bed until 8:30, I had been kind of dragging. Since Dannii sleeps with me, he wanted to go out so he could go potty. I keep the door to my room closed, so the other two dogs do not come in and start a fight. Dannii was up 3 times! Before all of this, maybe, just maybe, he would wake me up, once. This last time however, I could not shut my mind off, it was racing with all kinds of thoughts and what have you's. So I tossed and turned and listened to Dannii snore. He reminds me of my x-husband! I hate snorers! So, I move Dannii around, and for a short time, he quits snoring. But I am awake. So, I start to read my book (I read before I go to bed). After awhile, I put the book down, but nope, still could not get back to sleep. Dannii is up for the 3rd time by then, and so I just stay up. Its going to be a long day.

So, I give Dannii his daily morning pills before breakfast, mixed with just a tad of baby food. He's doing real good about taking them like that. Now, need to wait for a half hour before they can be fed.
Did I mentioned this was going to be a long day? Maybe a nap somewhere down the road, if I'm lucky.

I made sure to put Dannii's Prednisone pills into a hot dog, which he ate. Thank goodness. Now all the pills that he truly needs, are down the hatch, so to speak. Ok, so here come's the Vit. C and Vit. E, Fresh Start, SammE, Selenium, Tumeric (it is a capsule, so I opened the capsule, and just added to powder to the rest of the pills). Outside of the Vit. E and Tumeric, I crushed all the pills together. I took a half slice of a whole bun, and cut the bottom half, in half again (like a cake), I took some canned Easy Cheese and spread it over the bun, and poured the crushed pills on top of that and spread it all over. Hard to do that, as it stuck to the cheese! So, took baby food, and used that to help spread it over, and cut that half of a half, into small pieces, and gave to Dannii. He ate it all, except for one little piece. I know that's not breakfast as it was not enough food for him. I had one can of Paul Newman's Gourmet Beef cat food, (small can), and I spooned a bit into Dannii's bowl, as I didn't know if he would eat it or not. He ate the whole can, gave him some cut up turkey, and ate that up. Then he walked away. He was done.

Early afternnon, I gave him a small can of cat food, as he followed me into the kitchen looking for something to eat. Before all of this lymphoma stuff, he only got fed twice a day, once in the morning, and then in the evening. Now, he can't go that long in between meals.

Before I fed the dogs, dinner. I fried up some liver. I gave Dannii his Innova Turkey and Chicken, and Jenna and Zak got their Innova Evo Reduced (boy does Zak need to loose weight!). Again, I heated up some turkey water, and then poured it over all their kibble and really let it soak into the kibble. Dannii got almost 2/3 c of kibble, and he wanted something more to eat. I gave him a piece of liver (last piece from the last bunch I cooked up). He was looking for something more, so gave all the dogs some turkey leg meat. Guess Dannii had his fill by then.

I noticed his water intake has kind of slacked off some. At least he's not leaving a swamp on my living room floor anymore. I do have to admit, before I could get out of bed this morning for one of the times Dannii wanted out, he started to pee on the carpet! Thanks to Jenna, I had wee wee pads, and had one in my room, and stuck it under Dannii as he's peeing.

He may look uncomfortable in this picture to some, but I tell you, he was totally relaxed. Didn't know what I was going to do with the camera.

I got a call from the oncologist's nurse today. He is looking into getting some CCNU (chemo drug) at a lower cost, and he found a place in Arizona. The clinic would call and order the prescription, then the company would call me for billing and such. Cost $42.00 for 21 days, then he would go a week with no CCNU, but would need a CBC to check his white cell count at a cost of $145.00. That would have to be done every 3 weeks! I don't have that kind of money. Besides the CBC, they would charge for another office visit of $135.00, on top of the $145.00. I think there is something wrong with that picture. So, am now waiting to hear from my regular vet, and see what she has to say. I told that nurse that I couldn't afford the CBC every 3 weeks, that if they could do it like every 6-8 weeks, it would be better. Since the oncologist is not in on Thursday, someone will call me on Friday and let me know.

I think I am off to bed. You call come back again, now hear?

Some new food to try, day 14

2011-11-08T21:21:00.000-08:00


Dannii taken today

Can't believe its already been two weeks! How time does fly by.

A friend sent me two bags of Honest Kitchen Zeal dog food. Its all dehydrated meats and veggies and other good stuff. Its green, and I thought, "oh boy, Dannii will not eat this at all." I wasn't even too sure that Jenna or Zak would even eat it. So I took about a cup of the Zeal and put it in a bowl, and heated up some turkey water (water left over from cooking up some turkey legs), and added a cup and a half to the Zeal, and let it sit for a bit. I add a small amount of kibble to Jenna and Zak's bowl, but not to Danni's. I was just curious if he would eat or at least try it without the kibble. Nope, one look at it, and he walked away. However, Jenna and Zak went to town on theirs. They didn't care what color it was or anything else. Dannii couldn't believe that they were eating "that stuff". He wanted to eat, but just not "that stuff" by itself. So, I added a small amount of kibble, nope, still wouldn't touch it. So, then I added a small amount of cooked liver, ok, now he's eating some. Just not enough. So, I added in more liver, and really mixed it up real good. Yep, now he's eating, and in fact, he finished the bowl. All it took was a good amount of liver added in. I had some "stuff" left over, so I divided it between Zak and Jenna, with no kibble, and they ate that. I do believe Jenna and Zak like this "stuff", but the jury is still out on Dannii. I still have enough for another meal or two. So should know by then if Dannii will like it enough for me to buy some.

Again, he gets his phenobarbital pills, his Ondansetron pills (for loss of appetite), and Mirtazapine (to stimulate appetite), plus a pepcid mixed with some baby food. I do have him wait for a half hour before he eats, so the pepcid and other pills will have already kicked in. This was done, first thing this morning, before he got the above breakfast.

Made the same stupid mistake of taking the Fresh Factor, vitamin E, & C, and half tablet of selenium, plus his Prednisone pills and crushed them together, and this time I mixed them with lots of baby food. He wouldn't touch it! That selenium pill really throws him off. So, I add some liver and very small pieces, and blended it altogether, nope still no eat. Added even more liver in very small pieces, and mixed it altogether with a fish oil on top, now he eats it. He just had to have more liver in it. Need to remember not to put his prednisone pills into anything but a hot dog from now on. Sure wish there was some way to hide the smell of the selenium, but I haven't come up with anything, yet.

Since I was at work, son had to feed the dogs, I guess Dannii ate whatever it was that Shea put down. Which I guess is a good thing. I know he got the Innova Evo Reduced, and I told him to give Dannii the Innova Turkey and Chicken. How can one forget in a span of one minute? At least he also got down his phenobarbital pills.

You all come back again, now hear?

Another decent day of eating; plus a funeral

2011-11-07T22:17:00.000-08:00

Got the day off of work. Even though I told them I could work from 5-9, there were no students. So, had the whole day off.

First off Dannii again, got his phenobarbital pills, his Ondansetron to help with his loss of appetite, and the Mirtazapine to stimulate his appetite, a pepcid mixed in with a small amount of Gerber's Ham and Gravy baby food, with a tad more baby food to cover the pills, then mixed with another spoon altogether, and fed on the spoon to Dannii. He eats it up. Now, we have to wait an half hour before he can eat breakfast.

So, now I make another smoothie, but I blew it today. I added a bit too much water, plus I also added a half tablet of selenium. What I did was, I put some of the meat off of the turkey leg into his bowl, and poured the smoothie over the top of it. Yes, he ate/drank some of it, but not all. I wanted him to drink it all as I made the mistake of adding his Prednisone pills to that mix. Won't do that one again.

He's still hungry, so I give him not quite 2/3's of a cup of Innova Turkey and Chicken. I heat up some of the water from boiling the turkey legs, yesterday, and pour that over his food. I also did that to the food bowl for Jenna, and Zak. They liked the change from just hot water. Course Dannii ate it up. The rest of the smoothie that he didn't drink, I put it into another container and saved it until I got back home, which was around 3pm. Dannii's looking for something to eat, so again, I heat up some (what I will now call Turkey water) and mixed in a small amount to the smoothie, and poured it into Dannii's food bowl. He ate it up. Thank goodness, now he got his Prednisone pills down, even though they were not all at once.

For dinner, I again gave him about 2/3 cup of the Innova, mixed with the turkey water. He ate it all up. I keep forgetting, and am going to have to make a note to remind myself to add some fish oil to his food at dinner time. He gave me the impression that he was still hungry, so I added a small handful of kibble and turkey water, but he only ate a few more bites, and left the rest. There was not much left over, so one of the other dogs, ate it up. Wasn't paying attention to which one it was, but it would be my best guess that it would have been Zak. That guy is always hanging around just off to the side and in back of Dannii, just waiting to move in to check his bowl out. Its no wonder he is getting fat, and needs to go on a diet, which I am trying to do, but Zak always finds something to eat.


Jenna and Dannii 10-30-2011

Jenna's teeth are bothering her again. She's been prone to "stomatities" but the antibiotics are no longer working, because that it not the problem! She had a dental done about two months ago, and I was told that there was some more teeth that needed to come out, but not for awhile. With all this going on with Dannii, I just don't have the funds to do another dental for Jenna. I had some generous people donate some money for Jenna's dental, so not a penny came out of my pocket.

So far, the only healthy one has been Zak, but of course, he is the youngest. He will be turning 7 on the 30th of this month. I just hope that I don't have any problems with him down the road. Outside of his weight, he is doing good, but is always looking for food, because he is on a diet.


Zak 10-30-2011

He does not like being on a diet. His favorite thing in the whole world is to eat! Poor fat baby. Nice pose of him, but you can tell he's paunchy. I would like to see him nice and trim like he once was. He looked so much younger.

Well, all the dogs are curled up for the night, and I guess its time for bed myself. I do work tomorrow, and I hope tomorrow, we have another successful day of eating!

You all come back again, now hear?

Sunday, and no dog park, but Dannii's eating!!

2011-11-06T19:01:00.000-08:00

It rained all last night, and the friend that I usually meet up with at the dog park, emailed me last night, saying that she wasn't going to go today. It turned out to be a nice day with no rain, but that was ok. I had some things to do, so it was nice staying home for a change. Well, not exactly, has some errands I had to do.

For breakfast, first off I mixed Dannii's appetite pills, his pills for vomiting and a pepcid and his Phenobarbital pills all together, and put them in the baby food (he seems to love the Ham and Cheese by Gerber). I put some on a small teaspoon and he ate it. He didn't get the whole jar as the pepcid and the other two pills are suppose to be on an empty tummy for a half hour before they can eat. So, now I mixed a Fresh Factor pill (crushed) and mixed it in the rest of the baby food. He will not eat the Fresh Factor pill at all, not even as a treat. Which says on the bottle to just drop in the food bowl and they will eat it. Not my guys! Even Jenna wouldn't eat, but you know who........yep Fatboy will eat anything! Can always depend on Zak to eat something when no one else will. So now I take the Presnisone pills and crush them up also. Mixed it in with the baby food and Fresh Factor, he ate it. In the meantime, he's getting several pieces of cooked liver and he eats those up. Also gave him a few spoonfulls of Call of the Wild, but he only ate a bit of that. He's looking like he still wants something else to eat.........or maybe he wants all the liver, right now? I take a SammE pill, crush it up in some baby food, took a raw egg and some Flaxseed oil, mixed it all together with a immersible beater, so now its like a smoothie. I pour it into his bowl, and drink he all up! I am impressed! A few more pieces of liver, and we are set for this morning. He's got all his pills down and then some, except for the Selenium. The smell of those are so awful, I just don't know what I can mix it in. Maybe I will try another smoothie, and add a crushed Selenium to that.

Its about 3pm. I bought a new bag of Innova Turkey and Chicken small bits. No grains and very, very low carbs. I opened the bag, and just gave Dannii a small handful, walked away. Ok, wait now. I ran some hot water into the bowl, and let the kibbles soak up some of the water. Viola! We have lift off. He ate them! Hopefully, I won't have to take the bag back. But am hanging onto the receipt just in case.

I have DirecTv, and my receiver went out on Friday. I called them, and they are shipping out a new receiver, but won't have it until Tuesday........hopefully! I am going nuts with No tv. Granted I don't watch much tv, but I do like it on for background noise. Guess I have to resort to watching movies now. What really irks me is that I have some shows that I had recorded, and haven't watched yet, now I won't be able to watch them at all now. That's what I get for putting things off.

I just went in the kitchen to check on the turkey legs, looks like they are done. So turned the stove off and Dannii is hanging out by his bowl. So, I take some of the new food I bought and poured more that what I thought he would eat in, and poured in some hot water, let it soak a bit. He ate it up. I gave the rest that I had taken out of the bag, and wet it with hot water, and he ate all of that. Its not even dinner time yet!

Well, for dinner I gave Dannii 1 cup of the Innova Turkey and Chicken, but I soaked it in the warm left over water from what I cooked the turkey legs in. He ate all of it, except for a very small amount. I am surprised that he ate that much too. So the little bit left over, was ok. His phenobarbital pills went into a hot dog, and of course he ate that too. He does take the hot dog, takes a bite and then drops it, just to make sure no pills are inside. Cleaver pup to be sure. He's got me well trained in trying to find out how hard I can hide those pills from him!!

All pills done for today, so it was a good day, as far as I am concerned. Hope we have more days like this where he will eat.

You all come back again, now hear?

Friday 11-4-2011 AND 11-5-2011 Saturday

2011-11-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

So frustrating. I did get Dannii to eat 2 2.5oz jars of baby food, and a piece of liver. Still had problems with his pills tho. For some reason, he hates taking pills, hmmmmmmmmm. I wonder why? I did shove a selenium tablet down his throat though. I just wanted to get some into him.

When I got home from work, he ate 1 2.5oz of baby food, and turned his nose up at everything else. I cooked up 2 turkey legs, and after they had cooled off, I took the meat off of them, and gave him "some" of the meat, and of course, he ate that.

On Saturday, I got him to take some of his pills mixed in the baby food, but he wouldn't take his Prednisone pills. I crushed them up, and mixed them in with some baby food, and used that as a spread on a piece of lunch meat. Rolled the lunch meat up and he ate it.

I did the same thing with his Phenobarbital pills, mixed in with baby food, and spread it out on a piece of lunch meat. He ate that around dinner time. Saturdays I have to leave the house by 8am and I just couldn't fight with him any longer, so decided to wait till the evening.

I also am giving him a half a pill (that is the help to increase his appetite), instead of a quarter of it. When you try and cut a half a pill again, they just crush up. So, I asked my vet, if I could just give half, and after looking over Dannii's chart and everything, she said that that would be fine. Eventually am going to have to try and wean him off of these two pills, increase appetite, and the one for vomiting. But the vet told me to make sure that he is eating ok first before I start doing that. If I notice his appetite go down after that, then he will have to stay on the pills for awhile longer.

Well, you all come back again, now hear?

Day 7 and the Oncologist

2011-11-03T00:04:00.000-07:00

Dannii, taken at the vets office, today

Dinner time has become a nightmare. Frustration and tears as Dannii turns his nose up at almost everything I try and give him. He did take his Pepcid and his Phenobarbital pills as I put those in a Gerber Graduate hot dog. I ended up fixing him a scrambled egg which he ate. Could not get his Prednisone pills down him, so I litterly had to shove them down his throat. Still drinking a lot of water. This makes the 4th day that I know, that he got his Prednisone pills.

We went to see the oncologist today. He is about 50 miles away (one way). Dannii was in the back of the car, laying down. Usually when I stop at a light, he is up and looking out the windows. Not today. He never moved,. I truly thought he had died back there!

Thankfully I was wrong. As I parked the car in the clinic's parking lot and opened the door, he was up and at the door, waiting for me to open it. I let him sniff and smell the grass and some bushes, hoping he would go pee, but no such luck. But, I sure had to visit the little girls room, and quick! As I was about to open the door to the bathroom, Dannii had stopped, and was peeing on a fake plant that was just around the corner. It was like a small lake, so much pee, coming out of one little dog!

So the Oncologist explained to me what he would like to do, and what I would have to do, and so on and so forth, (to make it short). He left the room to write up an estimate, and his nurse came in with it. We were looking at $500 every 3 weeks, give or take $20-$40. I was real close to tears, I can not afford that. I live from paycheck to paycheck, and having a hard time as it is. I told the nurse this, so said that she would go talk to the dr, and come back. She came back with a new plan and estimate. On the original (first) plan, the vet was going to give Dannii a chemo drug that he called CCNU, expensive, and can cause liver damage, which is why they would have to monitor his blood count and such. The new plan was for a donated chemo drug (he told me who donated the drugs, but I forgot), so I wouldn't be charged for them. Plus they would give him something to help with his appetite, and vomiting. Even tho he hasn't been vomiting, it might be the reason why he wasn't eating. Queasy stomach. They kept him for an hour, and they gave him 1 1/2 jars (small) of baby food, and he ate that. He wanted more. So, today's total was $198.00. They gave me 2 can's of Hill's A/D and a couple of small jars of baby food, plus pills (always pills)!

So, I stopped and bought a pizza before I came home. I gave Dannii a slice, but it was too hot. By the time, we pulled up in front on the house, he was chowing it down. I gave him a can of A/D and he wouldn't touch it! I had planned on giving him some liver anyways, so I fried that up. Since it was a long piece, I cut into 4 piece, and I gave him one, and he ate it up. Could not get him to take his Prednisone pills, so again, I had to shove them down his throat. Am picking up a pill pusher tomorrow from my vet.

I was in the kitchen around 9:30 tonight, and Dannii come's and stands next to his food bowl. I spoon some of the A/D into his bowl, and he eats it. Spoon some more, he eats it, finishes off the can, and is still looking for food. So I give him a (small) can of Fancy Feast cat food, and he eats the whole can! I haven't seen him eat that much in a very long time! I just hope he can keep it up (the eating, that is).

This makes the 4th day that I know for sure that he has gotten his Prednisone pills down. He started drinking alot of water (not as much as he is now) before he started the Prednisone. So, a friend is sending me a Diastix to test him for Fanconi. I even brought this up to the vet, and he agreed that maybe this is also why he's not feeling well. On top of everything else that's going on with him, I sure don't want him to have fanconi!

You all come back again, now hear?

Another trying day

2011-11-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

Dannii does not have much of an appetite at all. Course if its scrambled eggs, he will eat that up in no time!

Yesterday was trying all around. I couldn't get him to eat much except for the scrambled eggs. I have basically given up hope of ever getting him to take a Selenium pill. He can smell that pill, so can I. But, it boosts the immune system which is why I would like him to try and take one. Have to find some way of doing that. Need to think on that.

Didn't eat much for dinner, and I am so frazzled that now I forgot what I tried to get him to eat! All I know is, he ate just a little bit, and that was all. Gave him some DogSure, and he took some of that also.


Dannii and his niece, Jenna

He had a seizure on 24th of October. The first one in 5 months and 3 days. Then he has one on the 29th in the afternoon. He's never had them during the day before, they have always been at night. My son called me at work, to let me know. That's when I bought the DogSure in town and when I got home, I gave him a can, and he drank it. Its a complete meal in a can. Expensive tho. Then last night after trying to get him to eat some dinner, I forgot to give him his Phenobarbital pills, so what happens? He had a seizure at 2:15 this morning! How could I be so dumb? Got to make sure he gets and eats those Phenobarbital pills.

This morning, I took a raw egg, and mixed in a tablet of Fresh Factor, and some DogSure, and mixed it altogether. He ate/drank most of that. Would have liked him to finish it, so I put in some Call of the Wild canned food, but he was done eating. Wouldn't take anymore.

Still had not gotten him to take his Prednisone pills, so I took a slice of bread and spread some peanut butter on it, poured the crushed Prednisone pills on it, spread a bit more peanut butter, and then folded it half, and cut it. He ate all of that. I was surprised. So, if I try that one again, this time, I will only use half of a slice of bread. Just to make sure he will eat the whole thing.

I will not be home tonight when he gets fed his dinner. So I don't know what to tell my son to do. Just give Dannii whatever he will eat. Just so he gets something in his tummy.

Now that he's got at least three days worth of Prednisone in him (that I know of), I hope they start kicking in soon. I want this lymphoma to shrink as much as possible, so he doesn't have so much trouble going poop.


Dannii soaking up some rays

This past Sunday, was a good day at the dog park for Dannii. He pretty much stayed with the whole group. The last Sunday of the month is our monthly Basenji Meet-up day. Normally, he will wonder off and try and poop in private, nothing coming out. So, I always have to stop and look for him, and makes sure that he catches up to me. Sunday however, he didn't do any of that, until we were on our way back to the car. Then he would stop and try and poop every so often. This picture here was taken by a friend (Meng), and its too bad that you can't see San Francisco in the back. Off to the right of the picture you can see just a tad. It was a clear and warm day. A good day for the dog park. Hope we have some more, before the weather turns.

Not sure how long our journey is going to be, I hope it will be a good one for the duration that we have. I don't want to see Dannii in pain. It already breaks my heart when I watch him as he tries to go poop, and nothing is coming out. Vet said if the colon get completely blocked, then Dannii will start throwing up, and he will get real sick. I hope that does not happen for quite awhile, if at all.

You all come back again, now hear?

Day 5 of so called diet

2011-10-30T22:05:00.000-07:00

This so called diet, IT'S NOT WORKING!

Dannii has now become a very picky eater, where before, he basically would scarf down anything and everything. Not anymore.

The last two days, I had trouble getting him to eat his breakfast. I fixed him something that I thought he would eat, only to have him turn his nose up it! Frustrating.

Friday morning, I scrambled him an egg, and he did eat that. Surprise, surprise. But wouldn't touch anything else. Not even cat food.

Saturday morning, was trying what I could and he still wouldn't eat. I was running out of time, as I had to leave for work. So, scrambled up another egg for him, and he ate that.

Around 2:30 in the afternoon, my son call's me to tell me that Dannii had a seizure. He's prone to these, but usually only has them at night, his last one, was just five day before, on Monday! That one was 5 months and 3 days, since his last one.

Before I went home, I went to my local Petco to see if they had any DogSure. Its like Ensure that is for humans, but this is for dogs, and its a complete meal in a liquid form. They had a couple, so I bought two cans. Now, am wondering if Dannii would drink the darn stuff! Well, the water bowl was empty, and he was looking for something to drink, so I poured the can into his bowl, and surprise, surprise, he drank most of it right then and there. He kept going back to it, as I purposely did not fill the water bowl up. I just wanted to make sure that I could get something into his tummy! After he drank it, then I filled the water bowl up, and somewhere along the line, he used my living room floor for a swimming pool! I have never seen so much pee. He's never gone to the bathroom in the house before, so I let it slide. He can get outside, it was just for some reason, he just peed on the floor.

Same ritual this morning, I couldn't get him to eat. Thought I had it made, and gave him the rest of the can of sardines. He started eating them, then I decided to put some crushed pills into the mix, and that was all she wrote. He wouldn't touch the sardines after that! Couldn't get him to take the Prednisone tablets either. I put them in a piece of hotdog, and he just ate around the pills, and spit them out. So, I put them in another piece of hot dog, and put it in a baggie with treats, and we went to the dog park. When I was handing out treats, I gave him his hotdog, (he must have forgotten there were pills in it), and he ate it right up, pills and all. Guess he didn't want to share.

I think he had a good day at the dog park. Usually, he wonders off by himself to try and poop (with nothing coming out). But, today, he stayed with the pack. Today was our monthly basenji meet-up. We had two new dogs that we have not seen or met before. And they fit right into the pack.

Jackson is up front and center, and his mom, Phoebe, is right behind. Both very nice dogs, but Phoebe, just like your typical female basenji, snarked and growled whenever anyone got too close. They were both off leash, as they have been to this park before, but just not when we have been there!

Getting back to Dannii, I hope now that I will be able to get the Prednisone into him, and hopefully it will work to take some of the swelling down, and increase his appetite again.

It would be nice to be able to have surgery done to find out exactly what that mass is, and see if it could be removed, that is on the outside of his colon. But my funds are next to nil, and all I can do is pray that this medicine will work, and that Dannii will be able to have some "normal" poops...........whatever that is, now.

Hope you all come back again, now hear?

Day 2 of our journey and diet

2011-10-27T13:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I think it must be the garlic that Danniii doesn't like to smell of! I honestly did not add that much, but even I could smell it. So, guess what, he wouldn't eat it!

I put his Prednisone tabs into a Gerbers Graduate hot dog (cut in half), and his phenobarital tablets into the other half. He chewed the meat up, but the pills dropped out! So of course, I had to get out another piece of the hot dog, and try it again. This time, he ate the pills and all. Still has not touched his breakfast. Guess I will not add anymore garlic. I even added on sardine, and some of the liquid, still turned his nose up at it. Here, I had been saying for the past week or so, that Dannii still has his appetite, and now he pulls this on me!


Self, and Dannii

If I can't get him to eat, this is not going to be good for either one of us.

I really hate to think of the possibility of loosing Dannii before his 13th birthday, on 12-12-2011. I know its a possiblility.

Right now, I just wished I had the funds to do what I could for him. No, would not do chemo, but "maybe" the vets could operate and try and take out the lymphoma that is right inside of his rectum?

He does have a mass on the outside of his colon, and it is pushing on it. I don't know if that is also part of the reason, why Dannii is having such a hard time going poop?

I just finished giving Dannii and tablespoon of organic cottage cheese, and a squirt of Barleanes Falxseen oil, mixed that in real good together, plus added a piece of sardine and some juice, and he ate it up!

I leave soon to go to work, and won't be home til 10pm, so am having my son feed him. Just told him to give Dannii a can of Pinnacle trout and sweet potato, nothing else. Hopefully he will eat all of that, now.

Till tomorrow, you all come back again, now hear?

Lymphoma journey, Day 1 of diet

2011-10-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

Well, for breakfast Dannii got a half a cup of cooked brown rice, and no it wasn't the burnt rice from the night before! I, however did give some of that to the dogs, to see if any of them would eat it. Zak and Jenna did eat some, but Dannii took one bite, and walked away from it. I expected as much. He also got two small boiled chicken breasts, a selenium and fish oil and a small tip of a teaspoon of organic garlic nuggets, fish oil, and a teaspoon of Call of the Wild (wet) food.

He finished most of it, but then had to go out to the backyard. I think the food was a tad bit too dry, so I added a bit of hot water, and now am letting it soak up some, before I see if he will eat the rest of it. Only about a quarter of cup (if that) left, but I would like him to finish it.

Dannii got the little bit of food that was left from his breakfast, along with come canned Call of the Wild. There was not that much left over from breakfast, as I said, so I just gave him a teaspoonful of the can and mixed it in with what was left, and he ate the majority of it. I let Zak finish it off.

For dinner, I am going to give him a small baked sweet potato, maybe one sardine piece, and some of his regular kibble. He will also get a Co-enzyme Q-10 tablet. Hopefully he will eat this without leaving any. How yummy can you get?

Will let you all know how he did with his dinner, tomorrow.

You all come back again, now hear?

A journey into unknown territory with lymphoma

2011-10-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

I have not written in the blog for some time now, since May would be my guess. I would let Zak try and do the dialog and it just got to be too much.

This here is a picture of my sweet boy, Dannii. This picture was taken on 12-12-2010, his 12th birthday. Such a handsome guy, and my baby.

I'll start this journey from the beginning, as I remember it, not the dates, but since this past summer or so.


Jenna, Zak, Dannii on 5-29-2011

When we would go to the dog park, I had noticed that Dannii was bleeding from his rectum after he would go poop. It wouldn't be alot, but was noticeable. I never noticed this at home, or else I was just too dang busy and not paying much attention. I don't know, only when we were at the dog park, did I notice the blood.

Finally I decided it was time to take him in to the vets and have him checked out, and find out why he was bleeding. This was in August. At first my vet, said that Dannii had an infected anal gland. So, we put him on some antibiotics. No change. Dannii went back in two weeks later, now vet said that Dannii had colitis. So, we put him on chicken and rice and another antibiotic. After a month of this, and still no change, I took Dannii back to the vets. My vet had since retired by then, and we were seeing someone new. Now, things changed.

I don't remember everything that was brought up at first. The vet wanted to do a complete CBC, since Dannii is prone to seizures, we also needed to check his liver values, since its been a year or so since the last time it was checked. Ok, so we did that. No significant results in that. Don't remember what it was, but something was a little high, and the vet had said, that that could be because of what going on in his colon. Next step, sonagram. That showed a mass on the outside of his colon, and the guy who did the sonagram was 90% sure that its cancerous. Not good. But still no idea of why he is bleeding from his rectum.


Dannii on 9-11-2011

Couple of options here. Could do a a scope up his butt, camera and all to see what's going on, which would cost around $1,500 to $2,000. Money, which I did not have. Or, we could do surgery. Would be a few hundred dollars less than the scope, but we would know more of what's going on inside.

So, I put out a plea to some people to see if anyone would be willing to donate some of their hard earned cash, and helping me to help Dannii and find out what is causing the bleeding. Funds came in, which truly humbled me. I was and am so very greatfull for their generosity. My vet's practice is not set up to do a scope, so Dannii had to go to a specialist.

We went to see the specialist last Wednesday, the 19th, and I was surprised that she did the procedure right then and there. Guess that was why they told me that Dannii can't have no food or water the night before! In the meantime, she put him on Piroxicam to help with the swelling and inflamation. She said that she would call me as soon as the results from the biopsy came in, she thought it would be Friday, but it was Saturday when she call me. She was pretty sure we were dealing with a scaroma, but the biopsy said "probable lyphoma". I asked her, what the hell did that mean, couldn't they get a diffentive answer? I honestly don't remember what she told me, all I heard that it would cost another $500 to get the true results. So, here we are now, a week later, and the vet took Dannii off of the Piroxicam. Saturday was his last day, she wrote a script for him to start Prednisone starting today.


Dannii 10-23-2011

I had someone from another list that I am on, send me information on dogs with cancer. It was a very informative web site, and they talked about their dog, and the diet they put their dog on. Didn't cure the cancer, but did buy the dog many more months than what the vet had said that they would have.

So, this is our journey, now. I bought a small bag and several can's of holistic dog food. Now, I have to be careful, as I have two other basenji's here, and they would love nothing better than to scarf up what Dannii is getting, as they are getting their regular food.

I have not got this down yet, as some stuff I had to order online, and they have not come in yet. But, I just burned the organic long grain brown rice that I was cooking! Jeez. Computer is in my bedroom, and I didn't hear the timer go off, when I remembered the rice! Didn't burn all of it, and maybe, just maybe, he will still eat the burnt stuff. OR, if he won't eat it, I know Zak will. Zak will eat anything that's food, and even stuff that's not food!

So ok now. I will (hopefully) post and let everyone know, how Dannii is doing on his so called diet. His appetite is still good, and his gums are still nice and pink. I want to try and get his energy level up some, as he tires easily now, but he still's enjoys going to the dog park on Sundays!

So, as Zak would say, "you all come back again, now hear"?

5-22-2011

2011-05-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

We met a new gal today, this here is Zypher, and she has a sister that looks just like her, but mom couldn't remember her name. Plus, I don't think she got a picture of her. They were really snarky, worse than Jenna! That's why the guy has her on a leash. When we first saw them, they were off leash, and they came up to us, and then started snarking. That's when their owner's put them on a leash. Zypher is trying to check Dannii out, while her master is trying to pet Dannii.

Another picture of Zypher.

For some reason that I can not explain, mom just had to take a picture of a bunch of stupid dogs (in my opinion, and since this is my blog, my opinion matters!) swimming! eeeewwww. What dog in his right mind, like's water? Mom did tell me that there are a lot of dogs that are bred to go into the water, and some of those dogs help people who might be drowing or something. So, I guess that is a good thing, but these stupid dogs were fetching a stick or ball or some such thing.

Well, do you remember Foxy, who was talking smack in one of my last blogs? She was doing it again, but she found out that nobody was listening to her. Her other brother, was wondering around somewhere, but her half brother, Batman (the little black and white thing) was checking Baree out. Foxy's owner is petting me, Zak.

Nope, this is NOT Lola. This is Zorro! He is such a handsome dude, as mom would like to say. She even tried to bribe Zorro's owner for a trade, me and Jenna for Zorro! How unfair is that? Course, Zorro's owner just laughed, but I think mom was serious!

We met a black female Shiba Inu, named Bella, and her brother is the furry black and white thing in the background, named "Buddy". Mom got a small bit of a b-500 with Bella, but not enough to post it to my blog!

Dannii out in the middle of nowhere!

There is Jenna way in the back, with me in front, with Baree right behind me.

We had a good time, as we always do. Dannii is still not 100% with his right front leg, yes he's been using it alot more at home and such, but at the dog park, it really put a lot of his leg. He was really limping by the time we got back to the car. Mom was thinking of carrying him, but with her arm and hand, she wouldn't be able to hold onto him for very long. Personally, I just thinking he's really sucking up this thing with his leg........yes, he's hurt, but gosh, how much longer is this going to go on?

You all come back again, now hear?

5-15-11 No dog park today

2011-05-15T17:06:00.000-07:00

This is me, Zak. Mom just finished mowing the backyard. We didn't get to go to the dog park today. Mom said she was tired of driving every day of the week, and just wanted to stay home. So she took a couple of pictures of Dannii and I, as we were the only one's in the backyard. Jenna was sacked out on the bed. Go figure.

Dannii has a hurt leg, but you can't tell it in this picture. Its his right front leg. A week and a half ago, human son tried to grab Dannii when he got outside. Because Dannii was running so fast, son's hand had just hit Dannii in the chest and since Dannii was still running, son's hand just slide across Dannii's chest and got his shoulder part and kind of pulled it. So Dannii has been limping. Mom took him to the vet and they did x-rays, nothing is broken, just sore. It will be two weeks on the 18th, and he's still limping some.

I like this picture of me a whole lot more. In the first one, mom tried to cut my butt off! Does this picture make me look fat? Piper, you better be nice!

Dannii and I are "almost" book-ends! But, he's a much darker red than I am! Man, do I look pale or what?

Thanks for stopping by. You all come back again, now hear?

Taken on 5-8-2011 Some more butt photos

2011-05-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is not a butt photo, but its the first time mom can remember seeing a gopher snake at the park. Course she didn't want to get to close to it. Does not like snakes at all. Can't say that I don't blame her.

Dannii is almost covered by the shrubs, you can barely see his blue collar. I'm in the red collar, and Jenna is off to the side between me and Dannii. I guess its only my butt you can see. hehehe

This is Barre's butt, and I am coming up behind her, as I think she found something that might be worth eating. Or, at least checking out.

Ok, not really a butt photo either, but at least mom got all five of us in one picture for a change.

As you can see, there is only 4 of us in this picture, as Barree, as usual, is lagging behind.

If someone could please explain to me why people, especially my mom, like to take butt photo's? I wonder how they would feel if us dog's could take pictures of their butts? I don't think they would like it very much.

Mom didn't take any videos this day as there was alot of wind, and course it would come out in the video, she didn't take many pictures either, but I guess this was enough.

You all come back again, now hear?

5-1-11

2011-05-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

There is 6 basenji butts in this photo. Why do people think it is so cute to take photos of our butts? Maybe we should take photos of their butts and see how they would like it!

This is much better. Its better to see faces than butts anyday. At least that is what I think, and since this is my blog, then I rule. Right?

Its always a good time for treats! I'm on the far left, then Scout, his sister Baree, then Dannii, and then Jenna, with Lola down on the bench looking up. She thinks she's going to get more, or maybe the first treat?

Now this one is interesting. Dannii is on the far right, and I am on the far left, we are both standing, while Jenna who is next to me, and then Scout who is next to Dannii are both standing. Take note of the tails and which way they are curled. How often does something like that happen?

We met up with Foxy and her brother, and I forgot his name, and so did mom. Man, are we bad or what? Batman is at the lower left hand corner, and he lives with Foxy and her brother, then Jenna is sniffing something out, while I and Baree are checking out Foxy's brother.

We met up with 2 Whippets. Meg is the white with grey markings, and she's facing away from the camera. Molly is trying to check Scout out. Both of them were nice dogs. They were bought from a breeder, and are half siblings. Which mean's they have different fathers.

Ok, so we didn't get a picture of Foxy, but we do have a video of her "talking". Mom thought it was funny, and videotaped it and here is the link if you want to check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si2oMKHjJ5s

You all come back again, now hear?

Basenji 500

2011-05-04T12:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnlGv61cjv0

This was one of our basenji 500's with several b's. Don't know who that crazy woman is that is yelling in the background!

You all come back again, now hear?

4-24-11, and Oh My God

2011-04-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this link will work. Its Dannii and Jenna running through the mud at Point Isabel. Nothing more needs to be said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOeqK5WJ_70

Mom has been so lazy lately

2011-04-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

We are always on our picnic table. Doesn't matter if people are sitting there or not, we just take over, and everybody else has to watch out. Just happened that nobody was sitting here today.

This is Dannii and Scout.

Treat time

a sleepy Star

Treats are always nice, even if you have to do some stupid tricks to get them!

The ever grouchy Lola. Funny, after she hangs out with us all, she stops her growling! Zak is walking behind her.

Yes, we know, its hard to tell them apart, but this is Hobbes. Don't you just love his smile?

Yeah well, figure this one out, why don't cha? Lola has her butt to the camera and Hobbes is the one with his tongue hanging out, and you can just see the side of Scout, and he's not facing the camera.

Our Shiba friend, Bowdu is looking at his sister, Bowpi, while Star is trying to check Bowdu out.

A very pretty Star. Too bad that her leash was still attached. We all believe that she had a good time with us all. Mom is sad that Star is going to go to another home, since her people are getting transferred. She would take Star but as she tells us, she can't afford another dog.

You all come back again, now hear? Hopefully it won't be another month before mom lets me get on and write.

3-13-11 We had Star with us today

2011-03-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

A panoramatic view of San Francisco on a cloudy day.

View of Alacatraz Island. The rain held off for about a hour and a half, so we had a good time at the park today.

A Silken Windhound, there was three of them but this is the only one mom got a picture of. His name is Aragon. Mom thought he was really pretty. She thought he was a Saloughi, but nope.

Of course, mom can not resist a "Frenchie". This guy's name is Smoky. I wonder why?

Ok, this here is Star, she is the one that is on the bench attached to the leash. She knows us and mom but not well enough to be let completely off leash. Mom tried earlier, but Star took off going back in the opposite direction. Our friend Dale thought maybe Star was looking for her mom. She is going to be going up for adoption soon, as her mom and dad got transferred to Alaska, and found out that they will not be able to take her.

A much better photo of Star, with San Francisco in the background. Star got along very well with all of us and even the new dogs that we met today. Mom is going to start bringing Star with us on Sundays now when we go to the park.

Star is on the leash, with Baree, two brindle females who got along very well.

Star and Dannii on the front seat of the car and on our way home.

A close up of Star.

We had already dropped Star off at her home, and we had to stop and get gas, and mom took a couple of pictures of us dogs. This here is Dannii.

A very close up of me, Zak. I'm trying to look cool. Did it work?

Last, but not least, Jenna. Does she have bug eyes or what? She's in your face, or should say, camera.

This here is a picture we see all the time on our way home. Well, us dogs don't, as we don't get to go in the car everyday, but mom see's everyday. The hills are nice and green and filled with the ugly windmills!
Come summer these hills are going to be so ugly. I guess that's one of the reason's why California is called the "Golden State"? Sure doesn't look golden to us.............just ugly. The sky doesn't look too bad in this photo, but when mom took the picture, the sky had black clouds, and very shortly after, it started raining. How come the sky didn't show the dark black clouds, I wonder?

The rain held off, and we were almost all the way back to the car, when it started raining. We got a good hour and a half of walking in. It would have been longer, but mom got "lost" looking for Star's house. When she mapped it out, she left off one street name.

You all come back again, how hear?

Its raining!

2011-03-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

As you can see, its raining today. So, we didn't get to go to the dog park. We don't do rain, we don't like getting our feet wet in the rain, we don't like the rain in our faces period!

You can see how green everything is! Mom really like's it when the grass and the hills are all green, instead of the ugly brown. For some stupid reason, the state of California, call's it the "Golden" state! ICK.

You can see the rain water puddle here. We had a tree cut down late last summer, and no one to help move the wood. Too heavy for mom to move by herself. She is going to try and sell it this summer, when it will be "seasoned", whatever that mean's.

This one, is taken in the backyard. It also has a puddle of rain water. Mom wanted to get out and mow the lawn before the rain's came, but it didn't happen. Suppose to clear up after today, so maybe she can do it on her day off.

Don't know if you can see the rain dripping down or not. Mom thought it was kind of a cool picture. Stupid if you ask me. Who care's about the rain? We don't. We get to stay indoors where its nice and dry......warm would be nice too, if we could get mom to make a fire in the wood stove!

You all come back, now hear?

2-27-2011 Our Basenji Meet-up!

2011-02-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I have to tell you all that we had a great time! We had a total of 14 basenji's show up. Two of them were brand new, and have never been to this meet-up group before.

This is NOT Lola! This is Zorro, and we played with him before. He's been to our meet-up's before.

This is one of the new dogs that came to our meet-up. Her name is Connie. As you can see, I wanted to check her out, but she was unsure of me, and was growling a little bit.

Not Zorro, but his littermate, Hobbes. It is really hard tell them apart. Hobbes and Zorro look exactly alike, and then you throw Lola in, and from a far, you can't tell who is who!

See what I mean? Lola, Hobbes and Zorro, with Dannii. Even he didn't know who was who!

But Greg is always great for some petting! This is Jenna (naturally, and Dannii). Benji is their foster boy who is up for adoption. When we got over on the other side, Greg let him of leash, and he did really great!

This is either Zorro or Hobbes, meeting Cassie. Cassie and her sister, Sunshine have been to our meet-up's before too.

Benji, the foster boy. He is looking for a "forever" home. Anybody want to adopt him? He's through BRAT (basenji rescue and transport). He's 6 years old.

Not all of us dogs stay together, but this was as close as to what mom could get of us basenji's in one picture. Beautiful day at the park.

Another one of us b's, still not all of us, but close.

Back to our favorite picnic table.

We met Bodie and his brother Parker. They seemed overwhelmed with all of us b's, and were a bit timid in coming to mom. They have never seen us before with so many basenji's.

On our walk back.

One last handout from Robin. Her b's name is Toby and mom didn't get a single picture of him! He's in the group photo somewhere.

On a side note: mom's granddaughter Kayli is out of ICU, and in a regular room. She is still sick and still has pneumonia. She is able to eat a little bit on her own, as the doctors want to see if her kidneys are going to do their job, like they are suppose too. So, mom says this is good news, and is still praying for a full recovery, so Kayli can go home soon.

You all come back again, now hear?

2-23-2011 My Granddaughter

2011-02-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

My granddaughter, Kayli, who will be 12 on St. Patricks's day, is in the hospital at Stanford Children's Hospital.

She is on dialysis, as her kidneys are not doing their work for some reason. She started out with a pneumonia, and some kind of a virus. The doctors got the virus checked and that is taken care of. She's doing better, but we still have no clue as to what is going on with her kidneys.

This picture is of her with me and her dad taken just this past December. Yep, she's got braces on. We are all holding on to the Lords' blessings that she will pull this with a full recovery.

2-20-011

2011-02-22T23:02:00.000-08:00

Well mom wanted me to tell you all that she has been called a lot of name's over the year's but never, ever has she ever been called a "human treat dispenser"!
I have to admit, that its kind of funny. Course she feed's all the darn dogs that come around. Including this very pushy Pug. Even mom kind of mad at him at the end, he didn't want to take no for an answer. He just wanted the rest of our treats!

Our good buddies, Bodie & his brother, Parker, showed up. Mom always makes sure that they get some treats too. We like them, they are not pushy like that dumb Pug was! Do you see Bowdu, the Shiba? It was a surprise to see them at the park that day.

We even got to meet another Shiba named Mocha. Only 2 years old, and Bowdu didn't seem to mind him too much. Bowpi is facing Baree (she has her butt to the camera).

Mom is going to put paper and a pencil in her fanny pack, so when she meets dogs at the park and if she takes their picture, then she can write down the name of that dog. I told her to do that a long time ago, and she did, but she changed fanny packs, and never put the pad of paper or pencil in the new fanny pack. At that time tho, she only used the paper to ask other people if she could get some copies or even email of the pictures that those people took of us basenji's.

The pictures are out of order "again", but she wanted everyone to kind of get what this park look's like when we first arrive. The only thing she did not take a picture of, was the parking lot.

When we first arrive. The parking lot is right behind mom, who took the picture.

The fairway, as mom like's to call it. We are heading for the footbridge, which is waaay down at the bottom of the picture. Don't think you can see it in this picture tho.

That look's like Dannii right at the bottom of the picture. At least it look's like his collar.

We heard Lola before we even saw her! She just growls at all of us basenji's. What fun that is going to be next Sunday when we have our meet-up.

Jenna went right in for the pats. I have to admit, that I did too. I am on the far left with the guy who has the red shirt on. Scout is on that guy's right, and it look's like Dannii is checking out the snarky Lola.

Mom never did find out this dog's name, but he took a liking to us. I (Zak) am standing kind of close to that dog, and Jenna is off on the far left. Mom thought this dog was kind of cute.

Dannii is center of the picture on the bottom. You can just barely see his eyes. Bowdu is on his left. Our friend, Scout is the Tri boy, with Parker to the right of him. Bodie is sitting very nicely, and that is Bowpi coming up to Bodie's mom. Maybe Bowpi think's there is food?

The other side, and we are walking back. Lots of nice new smell's after all the rain that we have had. It doesn't look like it from this picture, but there was a lot of people and dogs there that day.

Heading back to the parking lot......the fairway in the opposite direction. This inlet has seen a lot of dogs swimming, or just playing around in the muck when the tide is out.

You all come back again, now hear?

2-15-2011 Does mom loves us or what?

2011-02-15T18:58:00.000-08:00

Does our mom love us or what? Our picture is on the bumper sticker or whatever you want to call that, but then she has us on the back window of her car! Of course this would have looked alot nicer on her red Mazda that she had before this one, but outside of the color, this is "almost" the same car.

Hope you all come back again, now hear?

2-14-2011 Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-14T16:22:00.000-08:00

We want to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day. Us dogs really don't know what that is, but mom told me to say it to everyone.

This picture is of me (Zak) on the far left, with Dannii in the middle, and our friend Baree on the far right, with just the top of Jenna's head at the bottom. Someone mom was talking to at "our picnic table" was taking pictures of us, and he emailed this one to her. A good picture with what the park look's like from our back, instead of having the water behind us.

A nice head shot of Dannii. Mom's battery went kaput after taking this photo, so she couldn't get shots of Jenna or I.

We hope you all have lots of love for this special day. As for us dogs, we get love everyday in the form of food, a warm place to sleep, and a mom who love's us very much.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

You all come back again, now hear?

2-13-2011

2011-02-13T21:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we found out this Salugi's name. It is Battu. His owner still will not let him off leash yet, as his recall remains something to be desired. whatever that means.

We came across Lola again today. Boy, I tell you, she growls worse than Jenna does! Her owners says she only does this to other basenji's, as I stated the last time. She is looking at Dannii here, but she's not growling at him. She would get near me (mom didn't get any pictures of that, wish she did), and she would just growl and growl and growl. I just ignored her as I get that at home from Jenna, so it didn't faze me at all.

We got to see some Carolina dogs, but nobody can remember their names. Very nice dogs The Carolina dogs are the real light colored one, standing back and behind me (Zak), and the other one is standing next to its owner. Mom forgot the dog's name that I'm trying to play with. She thought it was a pretty dog. so pretty, that she can't remember its name!

This is the dog that I was checking out, in the above photo. We don't remember this dog's name either. Nobody has simple names anymore, and mom had a hard time trying to remember who was who.

Now, isn't she cute? This is 4 month old Madu. She is a Shiba Inu. Still getting used to people and strange dogs. They must have really walked the daylights out of her, as she just wanted to sit down, and not even move!

This is the housemate to Madu, and his name is Chevea. Only reason mom remembers these two dogs names' is because her friend put them into her phone, and then emailed it to herself. Mom had to call and ask her what the names were again.

We "think" this is Savannah", but not entirely sure. A very nice Whippet, and friendly. Just didn't like having 5 basenji's crowd her.

This picture is out of sinc, as this should be a couple of pictures earlier. This is what it looks like coming back across the footbridge, to head to the car. Which all the way, way down, and then around the bend. Quite a hike, but we get lots of people to stop and talk to mom and her friend and give us dogs all kinds of pats, and petting. Sometimes, we even get treats!

As you can see, it was a nice day. Foggy, as you could not see the Golden Gate Bridge or San Francisco, like last week. But, now we hear its going to rain for the rest of the week. Suppose to clear up by Saturday night, just partly cloudy on Sunday.

BoyCat is still here. He hasn't taken off again. Mom thought he might have, but as soon as she asked her human son, if he has seen the cat, boycat come's in from the garage. She has got to get that cat fixed! She knows that, just need to get the appointment on her day off, so she can take him and then pick him up.

Well, I guess that's all there is for today. You all come back again, now hear?

2-8-2011 BoyCat returns, now what?

2011-02-08T10:19:00.000-08:00

Boy Cat returned sometime during the night, or early morning. Human son shut him up in the bathroom, just to make sure he didn't take off again. When mom got up, boy cat was laying on a chair in the kitchen and the kitchen door was open a little bit, just so us dogs can go out and do our duty in the backyard. Then boycat went into mom's bedroom (that's where she feeds boy & girl cat, so us dogs won't eat their food), along with his sister to be fed. After he ate, this is what he does best, curl up on the bed and sleep. Now mom can't get him into the vet's till next week, so we don't know if he's going to take off again or not. There is no way to shut him up in the house for a week. Oh, you see that paw/leg up over boycats's side? That's his sister girlcat, laying next to him, on his back side. that's all you can see of her.

I don't like talking about the cat's, but I know mom was worried about him, and now that he's back, we don't know what to do.

Boy Cat

2011-02-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

Well, for whatever reason mom is not too happy. Boy Cat still has not come home. She figures he is eating with the other feral cats when our neighbor puts out food for them. So, its not like he is starving to death or anything. To tell you the truth, I am kind of glad that he is gone......well, not in the house, anyway. He didn't like to play with us dogs. Now, boycat's sister, girlcat, now she like's to play with us dogs. Course if we get too rowdy for her, she will run off, and then us dogs will chase her. She doesn't like that though.

Boy Cat

Mom would just like to have boycat come in the house, as she wants to get him to the vets, and get his "you know what" cut off! She wants to fix his wagon, so he doesn't keep disappearing. Course she figures that once all the feral female cats are no longer in heat, then he will come dragging his tail home.

That's all for tonight folks. Mom wants me off the computer so she can try and go to sleep.

You all come back again, ya hear?

2-6-2011 Our favorite park

2011-02-06T21:58:00.000-08:00

On a clear day, you can see San Francisco. It was a tad bit windy, but not cold. Must have been in the 70's. Though the temp thingie in mom's car, said it was 88 degrees, but we know it wasn't that warm.

You can also see the Golden Gate Bridge! Course it doesn't look golden from here. We are not actually this close. Zoom on the camera does a good job.

Ms. Lola who is five years old. She loves to grumble at all of us. Surprising Jenna or Baree (who are both females), never growled back at her, also neither did any of us guys.
Its funny, cuz she would grumble at us, but kept coming after all of us to check us out. Her slave said that she only does this to other basenji's, not to other dogs. Interesting.

This here is a (big) whippet, named Random. He was a "owner returned." He's a very nice and friendly dog, but he was pooped out and didn't want to run any more. We saw him on his way out of the park.

When there is a mud puddle, for some reason we can't just resist checking it out. Mom and Dale were screaming at us to get out of the mud. Scout is looking right at the camera, and Dannii is just behind him. Look at the muddy paws! Course they weren't too bad. We had done worse, believe me.

Ok, so you have seen a bunch of these stupid pics of us on the picnic table............get over it, cuz there is another one.

Told ya! You can even see the Golden Gate Bridge too.

What is it with the "butt" photos? Can somebody explain that to us, please? Don't ask me, but there was sure something interesting here.

Here's another one, Dannii is looking like he is waiting his turn to check things out. Whatever it was, we all peed on it!

Since mom forgot to bring the water bottle with her, some kind stranger shared their water with us. Now, wasn't that nice of them?

This is the footbridge we have to cross to get over to the open grassy area, and then we have to cross it again to get back to the car. Not very wide, and the water is under that bridge. People are going back and forth at the sametime. We just happened to be going back across, when nobody was coming across!

This the cafe that we always stop at (right at the dog park), so mom and Dale can get something to drink. Sometimes, (not many), their are a few people who will share their hotdogs!

As we got in the car, mom wanted to try and get a picture of us with our heads out the window. Either Jenna or Dannii kept pulling their heads back in. So, mom had to get a treat in one hand and the camera in the other, and WAALAA, she got a picture with our heads out of the window. Jenna, what is up with her, looking right at mom? She is the one who got the treat!

I also want to report that our "boycat" went missing on Wednesday of this past week. We have not seen him at all. We even asked his sister "girlcat" if she had seen her brother, but she would just walk away. Well, we are happy to report that mom saw "boycat" today when we got home from the park, and before us dogs even had a chance to get out of the car. See, he's not neutered "yet", and there are alot of feral female cats around, and yep you guessed it, that's what he was trying to do, but the feral male cats so far haven't given him a chance. Mom says, that as soon as he come's back in the house, she's going to put him the carrier and take him to the vets to get "fixed"!

Well, that's it for now. You all come back again, now hear?

We're cold and mom won't make a fire in the woodstove

2011-02-04T10:54:00.000-08:00

Granted its cold for us basenji's here, but mom says its REALLY cold back east, with lots of snow and ice, and that we should have nothing to complain about. Well, we don't know what snow is or ice is, so how could we not complain of the cold here? Does that make sense to any of you?

Basenji's come from Africa where its always hot, granted we did not come (personally) from Africa, but some of our ancestors did, we have some of those genes. We like warm, we don't like being cold or wet. Wet.........ewwwwwww. We don't understand dogs that like to go in the water. What is wrong with them anyways?

The days are semi warm as far as we are concerned. Not too bad, the sun is out and we try to find the sunbeams that hit the floor, so we can lay in the sun, but the nights are what is cold! Dannii gets to sleep with mom in bed, while Jenna and I have to suffer in our chairs. Mom's human son put our sweaters on us last night, and boy did we like that, they kind of help to keep us warm, but mine and Jenna's are starting to fall apart, because I have chewed on them a few times. But, they still help in some small way.

We just hope from what mom says that spring is around the corner. It can't get here fast enough for us basenji's. We just don't do cold, and I don't care to hear about snow and ice, as we have no idea of what that stuff is, as we have never seen or smelled or tasted it......yet.

You all come back again, now hear?

Jan 30, 2011, the new dogs we met

2011-02-01T13:10:00.000-08:00

This is a Sloughi. Don't confuse it with a Saluki. Still a sighthound. Too bad mom forgot this puppy's name. He is only four months old, and very nice, and friendly. For some reason Jenna does not look too happy.

Do you see the Shiba Inu? His name is Bowdu and his sister is right smack in front, Bowpi, the basenji. We have met these two before, but we were the only one's who showed up for our Basenji meet-up, due to threatening rain. wimps.

Last, but not least is this Bordeaux puppy, named Dozer. That's short for Bulldozer, folks. Just look at his feet, and he too is only four months old! He's going to be one big bulldozer! hehehehe.

Well, as I said mom had forgot her camera, but her friend that owns Bowdu and Bowpi took these pictures.
Thank you Mengshin.

You all come back again, ya hear?

Basenji Meet-up for January 30, 2011

2011-01-31T12:17:00.000-08:00

No pictures this time. Again, mom went off and forgot the camera! We almost didn't go, as it was raining. But mom had been watching the weather news, and did a slow mo thing on the radar to see if and when the clouds and rain were going to leave over Point Isabel. She figured around 11am (our meet time), the clouds would be gone. Her friend and our friends (Scout and Baree) wasn't going. They said it was raining and they didn't want to get wet. Mom tried to tell them that the rain was going to stop by then, but they still didn't want to listen. We had another friend that decided to go (Bowdu and Bowpi, a Shiba and a Basenji). Mom forgot to tell her that she was going to be late getting there, but they were still there when we finally got there. There was patchy blue skies with some clouds. But, NO rain, and it was even kind of warm and No wind either! It was nice. We were the only one's who showed up. Everybody chickened out because of the rain!

We got to meet and greet a new visitor who had never been there before as he was only four months old. His owner said the dog was a "Salughi", not to be confused with a Saluki. Mom thought the dog was very handsome. We thought he was skinny, but nice. Mom said that is the way those dogs are suppose to be, and when he runs, he will out run us! I don't think so. Mom says we are slowing down because of our age, and thats why that dog would be able to out run us! How dare she say a thing like that to us!! Ok, that dog is only a puppy, and I am 6 years old, Jenna is 9 years old, and the ol grump, Dannii is 11 years old. So, maybe mom has something there. Even tho we don't like to admit it.

Our friends left after we had been there about an hour, or so. So we finished our walk around, and lo and behold, it started raining! At first it was kind of a drizzle, then it rained! Mom was layered up in coats, but all she had was a hoodie over her head, and us poor dogs had nothing! I had my ears down and out, mom calls that airplane flaps, Jenna's ear's were down and back. and Dannii could care less! Boy, did we get wet. Jenna and I started whinning, just to let mom know that we didn't like the rain. There was nothing she could do, as we were still probably about a mile away from the car, so we just had to keep on trucking on. Once we got to the car, we "waited" till we were inside the car to shake the water off! Mom was NOT happy about that. She said that now the car smells of wet dog. Serves her right for making us go out in the rain, if you ask me.

You all come back again now, ya hear?

12-12-2010 My 11th Birthday

2010-12-13T20:55:00.000-08:00

Today I turned 11 years old. My name is Dannii Houdini, as I am a great escape artist! Which makes mom very worried at times. She promised me something real good in my breakfast bowl, but it didn't happen. She said that we were running late to get to the dog park as we were meeting our friends. So, she said that she would make it up to me at dinner time.

I am such a good looking dude! I really like the girls and they like me too. Well, most of them do. The one's who don't, I don't know what their problem is. Just look at this face. What's not to like?
(mom, you better be quiet)

I just don't want mom to tell anything bad about me, especially on my birthday. I'm not perfect, but then nobody is. I am who I am.

This is a very pretty little tri girl named Lola. We all met her for the very first time. Her owner's had just moved here from the state of Washington. She's 5 years old. This here is Zak, and as you can see she is growling at him for him to stay away from her. Zak doesn't listen, he is in your face kind of guy.

This is me walking next to Lola, she's leery, but at least she's not growling at me, which is a plus in my book. I let her have her space, but I did let her know that I thought she was very cute. She has a very nice tight tail, just the way I like 'em. My own tail used to be very, very tight. But when mom would have to make me move at night, so I wouldn't kick her, she would grab my tail and turn me around. Now my tail is not so tight anymore.

This is our favorite picnic table, and there was no one sitting there! So, we all ran and jumped up on the table, and I was yelling to mom to hurry and take the picture. She can be slow in taking pictures sometimes, and hardly gets us all facing in the same direction, but she must have been listening this time, as the picture turned out pretty good. You can see how foggy it was because you can usually see San Francisco right behind us. We're a pretty good looking bunch, don't ya think?

I got sardines in my dinner bowl for dinner. I have never had sardines before. Boy, they were very good. Mom gave one piece to Jenna and Zak, and all the rest to me and mixed it in with my kibble. I asked her if we could have sardines every night, but she said no. She said then that they would not be a treat and then I would probably get tired of eating them everyday. I don't think that would happen, but she said that it would. Jenna's 9th birthday is on the 21st, and I asked her if we were going to have sardines for her birthday too, but she doesn't know yet. It might be something else. We hope not, sardines are very good! We also got doggie ice cream. Mom said it wasn't really fair (even tho it was MY birthday), not to let Jenna and Zak have some

I am sacked out by the wood stove after dinner. Does this picture make me look fat? Please don't tell me yes. I don't want to hear it. Mom says Zak is getting fat "again", and "again" she is going to have to put him on a diet. Hopefully, not me. I don't want to get any less food than I already get!

I got too hot laying that close to the woodstove. Usually, I can stay that close all night, but for some reason, I got kind of warm and had to move. Jenna is behind me, closer to the woodstove.

Over all, I had a pretty good day. When we got home, mom had to bring some things in from the car. Us dogs were already in the house, and when mom went to make another trip out to the car, Jenna and I got out! Poor Zak got snagged by mom and didn't get out the door quick enough. She kept an eye on us the whole time, but would not chase us. Jenna finally gave it up and returned to mom when she called her, but I kept running. About ten minutes later, it was no longer any fun, and I came up to the door to be let in. I thought mom would be really mad at me, but she wasn't. She just said that she hoped I had a good time.

That's about it for now. You all come back again, now hear?

My Birthday 11-30-2010 (A day late)

2010-12-01T21:37:00.000-08:00

It never fails, when its my birthday, mom always forget to let me write in the blog!

This is my birthday picture. I wasn't too interested in the camera, I was checking out the cat that was standing behind mom.

I got eggies in my breakfast bowl along with my kibble. It was very good. I love eggies. I had to share with Dannii and Jenna, but I got more eggies than they did. Just don't tell them, ok?

Mom also took a close up, but she cut my left ear off!

She does that sometimes. She doesn't take very good pictures, although she would like too, but if you ask me, I think she waits too dang long! She's got an ok camera, but if she snaps pictures one right after the other, it will only save the first three.

Mom and her son, went out side to cut some wood for kindling (we got a wood stove), and when mom came back in, she didn't shut the screen door all the way, so all three of us dogs got to go outside, and run for awhile. Mom was not too happy about that, as all three of us headed up to the road. Thankfully no car's were coming. We just kept running around, we would run back down our driveway, and around the house, chasing the cats, then we ran back up to the road. Jenna and I were mostly following Dannii, where he went, we went. Mom got her keys and came down the road to look for us. Again, Jenna and I thought maybe mom was going to go somewhere without us, so she stopped and opened the door, and Jenna and I jumped in. Dannii however, wouldn't come, but he did go back down the road towards the house. So mom just drove us home. What was up with that? We thought we was going to get to go somewhere! We wouldn't have gotten in the car otherwise! Not fair. Course then she put the leashes on us and took us into the house and all the while, Dannii is still outside, running! Mom kept watching him, and decided to let him run off the energy. He never went back down to the road. He was mainly chasing the wild cats up the trees in the back field. He finally got tired of that, and since Jenna and I was in the house, he decided to come back. He was at the front door and mom just opened the door (son had ahold of me and Jenna so we couldn't get out), and Dannii just came in the house...............pleased as he could be! That should have been me............it was MY BIRTHDAY!

You all come back again, now hear!

Happy Halloween (even tho its late)

2010-11-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

This here, is Dannii. I did just have a tee-shirt on him that says "Will do tricks, for treats"; but it didn't show up too clearly, as its on the back. The tee-shirt has gotten too big for him, and the neckline was down to his shoulders! So, I put Zak's so called "costume" on Dannii and took his picture.

This is Jenna. Its too bad you can't see the top of her head for the smiling pumkins! She didn't care too much for the so called "hat" but she kept it on long enough, so I could take her picture.

This here is Zak, and no he doesn't look too happy. He did not like having the mo-hawk on his head, but he did sit still long enough so I could get his picture. Just too bad, he didn't put his ears up!

We had 11 basenji's show up for our annual once a month meet-up at Point Isabel. Do you know how hard it is to get 11 basenji's into one picture? This here, at least show's 8 of them.
It turned out to be a beautiful warm and sunny day. I had been praying all week for it not to rain on this Sunday. We have had rain off and on ALL week. I just didn't care what kind of weather we had, just as long as it did not rain! GOD, is so good, that he gave us the most perfect day, warm, and no wind. Just beautiful.

Jenna decided to get her close up taken. I have to tell you, that she got seperated from us at one point. I had a lady come up asked if one of my dogs had on a orange pumpkin jacket. When I said, yes. She told me that Jenna was way back in the opposite direction that we had come from. So I turned around to go find her, and she was standing with some people, and when I called her, she just looked at me, like she was in trouble, or something. I gave her a good rub and told her she was ok now. She didn't leave my side for the rest of the day.

This here is Zorro, he's 8-9 months old now. So very cute. I like it when Perry brings him to these meet-ups, as he's the one to get everyone to do the basenji-500!

This here is a very old, old friend from about 45-46 years ago! Neither one of us was 21 yet, so this had to be back in 1967 when we first dated. His name is Lyn, and he lived back east in Missouri for many years. I had found his son several years ago, and asked him to have his dad give me a call, and we had been in touch off and on, ever since then. He moved out here to Hayward (about an hours drive from me), to help out his sister who has a few health issues. This day was the first time we had seen each other since 1967! The little pup he is holding is "Angelique", and its too bad that she didn't turn her head around so she was looking at the camera. Dannii (who has his tee-shirt on), is standing right behind Lyn, and looking down at something. Two old farts, 45 years later. Who would have guessed?

It Rained today

2010-10-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

Mom knew better........she just knew better, but did she do anything about it? Noooooooooooooo. When we got to our favorite park, Point Isabel, of course, it was RAINING!!! How dare she make us dogs get out of the nice warm car and go out into the rain. It was our "first day of rain" since early summer!

See, it wasn't raining here at home we left. It does take us an hour to drive to our favorite park tho. Mom was watching the news last night to find out about the weather, and it did say a "chance" of showers for the valley. Nothing about the bay area which is San Francisco and Oakland area. She knew it would probably be a lot cooler today than what it was last Sunday, so she brought a jacket for herself. But, low and behold, RAIN. Not our cup of tea or anything related to dogs. We hate the rain. We won't even go out in the yard and do our "duty" if its raining. Well, I will (Zak), but I make quick work of it so I can get back inside as quickly as possible. Jenna, the royal "pain in the tush", will not even get her dainty paws wet, if its raining, she will go on the garage floor, the carpet is even better, if its too cold in the garage.

So, how dare mom make us all go for our walk in the rain! I do have to say it wasn't a pouring down rain, it was more like a hard drizzle, but it was enough for all of us to get wet. For some reason, Dannii didn't seem to care, as he just kept running around. Course every tree we came to, we ran underneath the branches and used it as an umbrella. Mom thought this was so funny. She didn't bring her umbrella, but her girl friend had one. Mom got soaked also. The hood on her jacket and the whole back of her jacket was soaked. So, she got cold real fast. Scout (the girl friend's basenji), was hanging his tail down, and he was not happy either. Jenna, kept whinning, and that was probably a good thing..........cuz we got to leave early!! Back to the nice warm, dry car!

Mom saw quite a few fender benders going to the park, and coming home. She kept saying things like people just drive too darn fast for the first day of rain! Hopefully, nobody was seriously hurt in any of those fender benders!

That's all for now. You all come back again, now hear?

10-10-10

2010-10-13T17:29:00.000-07:00

Mom is real good at taking pictures (even if they are NOT real good) on calendar days like this. She has a picture of human son and daughter taken at the beach in Oregon on 7-7-77. Cool, huh?

Well, we was at Point Isabel on the 10th of this month, so mom had to make sure that she got some pictures.

This here is a picture of Dannii looking right at mom, and Jenna is in the act of jumping down. San Francisco is in the background.

This one is funny. That's me, Zak sitting with my back to mom. I do this all the time. We are at our favorite picnic table, and I have to sit and guard everyone. At least in my opinion. Jenna is in the middle and mom's friend's brindle basenji, Baree is right up front. She will be 12 on October 23rd.

That's all 5 of us. For once mom got the picture of all of us. Usually, Baree and Scout hang back with their mom, but for some reason they were right behind us.

This is Scout, and you can see my face, at least part of it. Mom think's this is a good picture of him, and she's going to forward it to her girl-friend.

Dannii soaking up some rays. We are at a cafe, and we are all attached to the leash, other wise Dannii would be trying to steal some body's hot dog or something.

Ok, don't freak out. It's just me, Zak. Mom bought this stupid mohawk thing and put it on me, and took a picture. She thought it was so cute. Since Halloween is on the last Sunday of the month, she's going to dress us up! Oh my Lord, have mercy on us poor dogs.

You all come back again, now hear?

No pictures this time

2010-10-06T16:56:00.000-07:00

I just don't know about mom anymore. I think she's loosing it big time, but don't let her hear that I told you this, she would not be happy!
She is on a list for people who have basenji's and that's us (Dannii,Jenna, and me Zak), anyway she puts up a new photo of the month to their web site and then let the members know that there is a new picture up and who the dog is and who the dog belongs too. Well, she put up a new photo and got the name of the dog correct, but NOT the owner! This is the first time that she has ever done that, and to say the least, she was very embarrassed. She apologized the the list, and even wrote to the owner of the said dog, and apologized to her. Thankfully, the owner wasn't mad or anything, and did understand, and did tell mom that she has done a great job putting up the pictures. If you want to check out the web site, you can go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/basenji/

Personally, Jenna wouldn't be caught dead in something like that, but mom and a whole bunch of people on the list think it is really cute. Mom would like to dress us up, but have a hard time finding something that would fit. She did get a t-shirt for Dannii, that say's "will do tricks for treats". Since Halloween is on a Sunday this month, and in fact its the "last" Sunday of the month, she is trying to find something for Jenna and me to wear when we go to the dog park in style.

So ok then, that's about all the news we have so far. I know its not much, but hey, I'm trying here, even though mom isn't.

You all come back again, now hear?

What day is this and what time is it?

2010-09-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

Us dog's we don't usually know what day it is or the time of day. We usually go by a set pattern governed by mom.

We got to go to our favorite dog park in all of the world (Point Isabel, of course), and mom picked up our friend Japhey (pronounced as Jap ee). Him and Dannii met about 6 years ago, before Jenna and I came to live here. Mom used to dog-sit Japhey when his parents (both were in the Air Force at the time) got called to duty. Now, we haven't seen Japhey in about a year. His parents are now divorced, and Japhey is living with the x husband, as mom call's him. So mom got his phone number from Japheys mom, and she called and asked if she could take Japhey with us to the park, and surprise, surprise, he said, yes! We's was so excited! Mom had a hard time getting pictures of Japhey as he is constantly in motion, and hardly ever stops. But, she did get some.

This is a picture of Japhey but he's kind of far off, doing his own thing. He loves to explore.

This is Japhey and I. I am on the left side. I can't remember what we were talking about, but apparently I wasn't liking what Japhey was saying.

Jenna is on the far left, and then me (Zak), with Japhey coming towards us. He looks like he is hot. All of us dogs got some nice cool water to drink, and Japhey was no where to be found so he could get a drink too. But he did get some a little bit later. I have to tell you, it was very warm that day. Mom thinks it was in the high 80's. It was very nice at the park, but very warm also. For once, mom didn't need a jacket.

Japhey is resting his head on the back of Dannii. Notice he is on the leash, as mom didn't want him taking off as we were closing to leaving.

This one here, we were all checking out some interesting smells in that bush there. There was a lot of p-mail, for us dogs, and we were all trying to decipher the mail.

We met up with a Whippet, and we were running with him, but he was mostly chasing a frisbee, and he didn't like it too much when us dogs decided he was fun to chase. As you can see, his owner was using the frisbee to hold water so all us dogs could get a drink of water.

Your's truly, Zak. Do I look fat in this picture? If you are going to say, yes........don't tell me. I don't want to hear it, as mom will then put me back on a diet. Dang, she's going to do it anyways, she just told me!

This is Jenna, and probably my butt. hehehehe. For once she didn't take enough pictures of Dannii to get a good one of him, by his self.

Mom met this dog, actually a 4 month old puppy, named Cooper. She just loved his face. Some kind of a wired-haired dog. But very friendly and mom thinks, very sweet.

This is Japhey. He sure looks thirsty huh? That's what he gets for running and running. Doesn't take time out for a drink of water. That's me just looking at him. I know I am telling him something, but I forgot what it was. Its obvious he wasn't listening anyways.

That's enough of pictures. Mom thought she lost her cell phone Tuesday night, but she found it in the school's driving car on Wednesday morning. She had to take Jenna back to the vet's because her stinky breath came back. The vet said that Jenna has Stomatitis, and he put her on Clindamycin 150mg 2x a day for the next two weeks. She's got to back in then for a recheck, and may have to stay on the Clindamycin for another two weeks. It depends on what the vet finds in two weeks from now.

Today would have been mom's youngest son Beau's 32nd birthday. He died when he was 13 years old, so we never got to meet him. Mom say's that now Beau has been with God longer than he was with her, and she's thankful for that, but she still misses him very much. He died Christmas of '91.

We don't write every day, but we are trying to write at least once a week, more if we can, and if we have anything new to report.

You all come back again, now hear?

Another day and another surprise

2010-09-12T18:03:00.000-07:00

We got to go to the point today. It was the same as usual, but on the way back to the cafe, mom ran into a friend of her's that she hasn't seen for several months. Her name is Kalie (pronounce as Ka lay), she's married to someone else now, which mom knew about, and Kalie had Star with her. We get along with Star but we sure like her brother Japhey alot more. Japhey is living with Kalie's x-husband. Mom asked if Kalie would email her Paul's phone number so she can call and ask him if she could take Japhey with us to the point, and Kalie said that she would. The surprise turned out to be that Kalie is going to have a baby the end of February. We wanted to know if she is going to have multiple babies, and if we could have one? But mom explained to us, that human's (most of the time) have only one baby. Sometimes there can be two or three. But mom said no, we can't have any human babies. She's a poor sport. We thought having a baby in the house would be great, but mom explained that they cry ALOT and need to be fed ALOT and lots of other things. So maybe it is a good thing that we don't have any babies in the house, as it would probably eat up all of our dog food!
This here is a picture that mom got of a squirrel when we were on our way back to the cafe. He was sitting out in the open just munching away on something. Mom and her friend and some other people who stopped and were petting us dogs, all made the comment that the squirrel was a brave little soul to be out in the open like that. I have to admit, I didn't see him and I guess Jenna didn't either, but Dannii sure did, and he went over to check him with the hopes of maybe having a snack. But the squirrel was fast, and he scampered back in under the rocks.

As you can see, Dannii got close and we thought that he almost had himself a snack, but the squirrel was alot quicker than Dannii thought. After wards, Jenna and I were over among the rocks to see if we could find him, but am sorry to report, that the squirrel went deep under the rocks and we couldn't find him.

Mom got another basenji decal for her car. She had one just like this on the red zoom zoom, but it was in white. This one she got in a coppery red, so it matches our fur! Wasn't that kind of her to do? You can also see the magnetic bumper sticker she has that was on the other car also. It has our pictures on it which we think is really cool.

\

This is a close up of the basenji decal. We think it looks great. How about you?

You all come back again, now hear?

Our Basenji Meet-up

2010-08-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

was not as expected. Was hoping we would have a large turn out, like we did last month where we had 14 basenji's. Sadly, we only had 9 today, which I guess really isn't that bad. There was 3 new basenji's. One is a foster boy, and his name is Benjie. This here is a picture of him, he is the one on the far right with the halter and leash attached. When you look at him, he is small, like a female, but not quite that small, and he looks alot younger than he really is. He's 6 years old.

We also had a new guy join us, with 2 female basenji's. The man's name is Chris, and he works nights, and really didn't think he would be able to make it, but he did. One female is 13 years old, and the other one, is only 2 years old. Mom brought her regular camera and her video camera. She had her friend take the regular pictures, while mom was the video. I guess her friend didn't get any photos of Sunshine and Chrissie. Which is what these two dog's name's are.

We met up with a Chi, who really took a liking to Scout (in the foreground). Mom thought he was really cute, and he was not afraid of all of us basenji's gathered around him. Mom had both camera's at that time, and her friend had to tell her that that would be a great picture. This guy had his front paws up on Scouts back, and he wanted to play, but Scout is not the playing kind of dog. But he took all of this in stride, and just kept moving so the Chi had to move also.

This here is Nancy and her husband is taking pictures of us dogs. Nancy kept handing out treats like they were candy, and us dogs would not leave her alone. This is Jenna that jumped up to Nancy to get some more treats. Jenna can be really pushy when it come's to food.
I don't either! You and Dannii are the one's who are all over everybody trying to get all the treats for yourselves!

How many basenji's do you count in this photo? There is actually 6. One is on the far side of Dannii, and you can barely make out part of the dog's chest. Mom is also handing out treats, so us dogs are on her like white on rice. Food, its all about the food! Don't let anyone tell you different! As you can see, Scout is the only one that truly stands out like a sore thumb, as mom would say. He's the only Tri in the whole bunch, and his sister is a brindle.

Now here is all 9 of us basenji's looking for a treat from mom. Well, as you can see, Angus, must have gotten his already and was walking away. That's just dumb if you ask me, you always staying and hope you get more than just one treat. Mom is usually pretty good about handing out more, if everybody behaves politely. We seem to be doing ok, nobody is jumping. Ok, so we're not sitting, but we ain't jumping either! Which is a good thing. Right?

Here's eight of us still looking for hand outs, and they are forth coming. We had a good day for treats, I can tell you that, cuz mom is usually stingy about handing out treats. We don't know why she hands them out to lots of other dogs, but for us, she is really stingy with the food. Nancy was pretty good about handing out the treats too, and it seem's to me that she gave Jenna alot more treats than she gave to either me or Dannii, or any of the other b's

Nancy said I had a cute face, and that's why I got more treats than you stupid boys! So there!

Somebody came by with a 4 month old Pit Bull puppy, and mom just fell head over heels for that pup! I have to admit, that he is kind of cute, and his name is "Pilot". Funny name if you ask me. What kind of name is that for a dog? This pup kept give mom lots of kisses, while her friend snaps some pictures, but she didn't get any of Pilot giving mom any kisses. It was her first time here and her owner said that she was doing real good with all the different dogs and people. He said that he was going to keep bringing her so she can get socialized real well. Mom think's that that is a good thing, especially for a pit bull. So far, this pup is very sweet and mom just hopes that she stays that way.

Well, we're on our way back and here's all of us, except for Benji (which is on a leash). There's 8 of us here, and that is Dannii way up in front with his back to the camera, as he is headed towards the other side of the park. Mom call's him and he stops, and waits sometimes, not always. One time, he took off and went to the cafe and by the time mom and her friend got there, he had stolen somebody's hot dog off the table! So Mom puts all of us on the leash a little while after this photo was taken.

We had a good day. I hope you all had a good day too
You all come back again, ya hear?

Mom passed our one year anniversary!

2010-08-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

I always said that mom was always coming up short on things, and just maybe this proves it! Our one year anniversary was yesterday and she missed it! How could she do that to us? Granted we don't get out and have great adventures in walking, though we do have great adventures at the dog park, but that's all we ever seem to write about, and now I can understand why mom is sooooooooooo boring!

Do you remember how tiny our kitties were? This is a picture of them last November with Dannii, as he was the only one who really didn't bother the kitties much. Jenna and I would like to eat them, but we're pretty sure that mom would not allow that to happen.
This here is a picture of "boycat". The kitties turned out to be brother and sister, and mom at the time, had NO intention on keeping them. Well, here it is almost a year later, and they are still here. We have a 4 foot gate between the door and the screen door, which is what boycat is resting on. See how big he's gotten! He would make a fine dinner, if you ask me. But no one did, so I guess I will have to let that one go.

Mom can't find any pictures of "girlcat", although there are some, but for some reason she can't find any of grilcat by herself, except for this one here. She is between me and Jenna, out in the garage. This is where us dogs like to hang out, when we're not in the house. I'm checking girlcat out, just to make sure she is behaving herself. She has these real sharp needles on the ends of her paws and she likes to use them sometimes, and they hurt. So I'm just making sure that she is behaving herself. As you can see, Jenna is keeping a eye out on things too.

This here was mom's new car. She bought it in January 2007, it is a 2006 Mazda 6i sport sedan. We loved our taxi, and so did mom. But, can you guess what? She totaled out our taxi on August 9, 2010!

This is what it looked like as it was being hooked up to the tow truck! For some reason, she couldn't cry. We all loved that car, it was a great car, and she had to go and ruin it. That just was not fair, if you ask me. Us dogs though are grateful that we were not in the car when this happened. Mom had just gotten off from work, and was on her way home. Everybody told her that she ran a red light. Since she is a driving instructor, and teaches teen-ager's how to drive, she thought this was so unbelieveable! But, she got a ticket in the mail about a week later. Wonder how much that's going to cost her?

So, now we got a newer zoom zoom. Same kind of car, only a different color, plus its 2 years newer than the red one. Mom and us dogs still miss the red one, as it was very easy for us dogs and for mom, to find it in a parking lot! This one is exactly the same on the inside, the only difference is that this one is not a hatchback, like the red one was. That is the only true thing mom misses on this car. The back seats are down, so us dogs do have lots of room, like we did in the red one.

Well that enough of that stuff, I hate remembering things that we no longer have. Mom has to go to work and she wants me off the computer now.

You all come back again, now hear?

Jenna no longer has stinky breath

2010-08-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that Jenna no longer has stinky breath. She has funny smells on her, but mom explained that was because she was at the vet's today and had her teeth cleaned. They also had to pull one of her molars, but mom forgot to ask why. You can see from this picture that she still isn't feeling up to par, maybe it's because she's hungry? She still has the infection, but the vet told mom to start the meds up again tomorrow. Usually, Jenna doesn't look so, what's the word I want?, down, maybe. Mom says that Jenna had to be put to sleep, for them to clean her teeth, and then pull the molar.

At least right now, she has nice clean white teeth, but for how long is anybody's guess. In this photo, mom is holding up Jenna's lip with one hand, while she takes the picture with the other. So you can see how nice and clean they are. I have to say, she puts Dannii and I to shame, as our teeth aren't nearly as white as her's are. Mom say's though that Dannii and I are next, whenever her settlement come's in. Personally, I hope its very long time. I am not looking forward to having some one put me to sleep just so they can clean my teeth!

In this photo, mom's son is holding Jenna's mouth open, so mom can get a good picture of Jenna's clean teeth. I do have to admit, that they look pretty good.

You all come back again, ya hear?

We got a new Zoom Zoom

2010-08-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

This is our new zoom-zoom. It looks exactly like the red one mom used to have. The only thing is that this one is two years newer (2008) and its kind of gray in color. Actually its more of a purplish gray. You can't tell in the photo tho. But standing outside in the sunlight you can tell. Also, this one is not a hatchback like our red one was. But, the salesman laid down the back seats for mom and there is lots of room, just like with the red one. Little things, no fog lights, no hatchback, no back windshield wiper, but mom can live with all that. Inside of the car is exactly like what our red one was. This one has neat looking head lights, more sleek than the red one.

Mom was trying to get us dogs to put our head out the window, but as you can see, only I (Zak) complied, but I'm not looking at mom. I'm looking at the cats that I would like to eat sometime. We had just gotten home from the dog park, and this was the first time we got to go since mom totaled out the red zoom zoom. It rides the same if you ask me, and coming home, we all curled up in what you would call the trunk, since the back seats were down. It's cooler back there, even with tinted windows. Mom's son went out to look at the car when she brought it home which was Friday, and all he said was that "you got the same car"! Mom only wishes. Yes, she wanted a red one like before, but there was none to be had. This is 2 years newer than the old one, and has less miles on it, only 39,668. She bought an extended warranty for an additional 60,000 miles on top of what is already on the car. She just doesn't want to take any chances.

We got to meet some guys that had two dogs, both of them are basenji mixes. This one here, his name is Houdini, he's 7 months old, and they think he's mixed with a sheppard, since they got him from a shelter, they don't know for sure, but we sure think he looks like half basenji. We can't remember his brother's name, but they also think he is part basenji mixed maybe with a pitt bull. Both of these dogs were very nice and we liked them.

This here is a picture of Houdini with his brother. Makes me mad that mom can't remember this dog's name! Maybe she's getting old or something. This one is a bit more shy but since bringing Houdini home, he has opened up more, and is getting alot more exercise, which is always a good thing.

Next Sunday is our basenji meet-up at Point Isabel, and for one, I can not wait. I hope we have as many basenji's (which was a total of 14) as we had last month. Mom told the owner's of these two about the meet-up and asked them to join us. So hopefully they will and then I will make sure mom remembers this poor dogs name!

You all come back now, ya hear!

Jenna has stinky breath

2010-08-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Poor missJenna has an infection in her mouth, and it is spreading to the other side. Mom took her into the vets yesterday. So the vet gave Jenna a shot for the pain, and told mom to give her some pills twice a day. Then Jenna has to go back to the vet next Wednesday to have her teeth cleaned and such. The vet also said that there is a possibility that she could loose her canine teeth, but he won't know that for sure until he gets in there and checks everything out. He's even willing to work with mom on the bill. That's very nice of him, since mom said that it could cost alot of money. Does that mean we won't have our dog food or treats? I hope not. Mom says we will still get our food and some treats. That hopefully it won't cost her a arm and a leg. How can it cost an arm and a leg, if is actual money? That doesn't make sense to me.

Jenna, along with Dannii and I, are always out for food, we don't care who has it, we want it, and we want it now. This here picture is showing how much Jenna is after some food that someone has. If you notice down at the bottom of the picture, Dannii and I are just standing there looking for a hand out. We haven't figured out which method works the best, but we all got something to eat.

Dannii and I will have to have our teeth cleaned too, but not right away, as mom will have to get Jenna's bill paid off first. She's hoping her settlement will come through very soon, so then she can get us dogs into the vet before Christmas. Personally, I could care less. Basenji's in the wild don't go to the vet's, even when they have bad rotten breath, and teeth! Why should we have to go? Jenna, I can understand, her breath is so bad, that nobody wants to be around her. But, Dannii, and I, we don't have bad breath, so why do we have to go?

You all come back again, ya hear?

We're on the hunt for another car

2010-08-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

Mom was suppose to try and go and check out a car today, down in Oakland. That's near the dog park we go to. BUT, her son's car was over heating, so she didn't get to go. She was looking at a Mazda 3s hatchback.

This here is a picture of it. She really likes the color and such. Lots of room for us dogs, too. They were asking a bit much for it tho.

So, now she thinks that she will have to rent a car this week some time, and try and get Friday and Saturday off, so she can go look for a car. If the car dealer still has this one available, she'll go check it out, if not then she has to start all over. For some reason she is intent on getting another Mazda. Of course, it would be ideal if she could find another car similar to our red taxi. As much searching she has been doing online though, I don't think that is going to happen. But this purple thing will do just fine.

The only other thing to report on, is us dogs need to get our teeth cleaned, especially Jenna's! Her breath is so bad, it almost makes you want to up-check. Mom has to wait till she gets her money from the settlement in first, unless the vet is willing to work with her. Jenna is in the most need, and would be done first, then Dannii and I could wait till the settlement come's in, or until hell freezes over, which ever one come's first. Why do I have the feeling that her settlement will come in first?

You all come back again, ya hear?

She had another one!

2010-08-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

Accident, that is. Mom was coming home from work (a good thing too, since us dogs were NOT in the car), when she hit a SUV right behind the right rear tire. TOTALED out our taxi!! This here is a picture of the car in the junk yard when she went to get the rest of her stuff out.

Us dogs would like to cry, but we don't know how. We lost our taxi, and mom lost her car, so now she has no way to get back and forth to work. Her son has been kind enough to let her use his car the last two days, but she doesn't think he will do that much longer. He doesn't work, and he sleeps most of the day, so I don't see why he wouldn't let her use it. That's my thought on this, but I'm just the dog and nobody listen's to what I have to say.

Mom thought she had a green light (which mean's go, since she's a driving school instructor), so she entered the intersection and right smack in front of her face, was the SUV. She tried to swerve to the left but it wasn't enough, and hit the car. Her airbag went off, and when the cover came off of the steering wheel, it hit her right in the sternum. Now she has a bruise there. She was not hurt like from the last accident 4 months ago (which was NOT her fault).

The guy who she hit, came running up to her car, to see if she was alright. She said yes. He then told her that she ran the red light. A few seconds later, another guy came up, and said that he was right behind her, and that she ran the red light. Unbelievable, she says. She still swears that the light was green. They will probably find the fault lies with her. No she did not get a ticket.

She found out this morning that her insurance company will pay off the loan on her car, and that there will be some money left over, that will go directly to her, so then she can buy another car. Hopefully not wreck the newer one!

You all come back again, ya hear!

The view from our back and front yard

2010-08-07T23:39:00.000-07:00

Since I am always writing about our favorite dog park (Point Isabel), I thought I would treat you all to something new. I thought that maybe you would like to see where Dannii and Jenna and I live, along with mom and her human son.

This is a picture from our backyard, looking east. Not much to see is there? Those tree's house all kinds of birds. Anywhere from starlings to hawks and owls. We usually hear the owls in the early mornings, like around 5a.m. Don't they know that us dogs like to sleep in? That's too early to wake up. Mom sometimes call them our alarm clocks and she says they are much easier to listen to, than to roosters that crow really loud. Thank goodness we don't have any neighbors that have roosters. I would try and eat them!

This picture here, is looking west from our backyard. Now do you see why we get so excited when we get to go to our favorite dog park? There is just nothing here to do. This farm land belongs to someone else, and we are not allowed to go out there. Tho Dannii and I have gotten loose a few times, we have gone out to the trees in the above picture, and once or twice we have chased some cats in this photo here. But for the most part, its pretty boring out here.

This picture here is looking east, down our driveway. Several years ago, those windmills weren't even there! Just those hills. Now all those hills are covered with windmills! Our driveway is just about a football field to the main road. Our taxi is the red car, and human son owns the silver car parked behind mom's. When Dannii and Jenna and I have gotten out of the house a few times, we would run down this road. I am careful not to go out onto the road tho, cuz I could get hit by a car or a big bad truck. Mom gets really nervous and scared when we dogs happen to get out of the house and take off down this road. She come's after us right quick, and yells "cookie" at the top of her lungs. But we dogs don't care, we just want to explore and smell all the smell's that other animals leave behind. I think mom call's it "pee mail".

This picture here, is also from our front yard, but its looking south east. If you look closely, you can see some mountains in the background (after the tree's), that is a long way from where we live, and there is a very deep river between us and those mountains. Its called the Sacramento River. Some big ships come up the river to go to Sacramento to unload their freight or to pick up some freight. Mom's human grand-daughter lives over there, in a town called Antioch. She can not get there from here. It takes about 40 minutes to drive over there, as they have to go up and around. Human son wishes that they would put in a bridge or a ferry, to cross the river here, then it wouldn't take him so long to drive over to see his daughter. But, that will never happen, at least not in our dogs lives.

.Well, its getting late, and mom wants to go to bed, so we can all get up and go to Point Isabel tomorrow!

You all come back now, ya hear?

I'm a first place winner!

2010-08-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

Mom is on this list for Basenji Companions. Its an email group where everyone writes about some antics or what have you, that their basenji does or is doing. Anyway, once a year they have a photo contest for everyone to enter. I won first place in Devastation.

This is the picture that won. Human son and I was in his room. He got up to leave for work, mom was already at work, and he forgot about me, shut me up in his room.....ALL day, with NO water, or food! I was trying so hard to find a way out, but I was stuck there, until mom came home from work.

This is a picture of me with my head stuck in the door from trying to get out of the bedroom. I can not tell you how long I was stuck like that, but I can tell you that IT WAS NOT FUN!! Course first thing mom had to do was take a stupid picture! But hey, I won first place for being in trouble.

Zak got honorable mention for this picture of him with his head in the toilet. Human son caught him drinking out of the toilet and just happened to have his camera phone and snapped a picture.

Also, Zak and Jenna came in first place with their picture with one of the kitties. There is only one kitty in this photo however. Their momma is a feral cat. That mean's she is very wild and can not be tamed, let alone, touched. She had some kitten's last year, but we had a big bad storm with lots of rain and wind. Human son heard mewling and went out to find two kittens, which the momma cat forgot about. It took a long time for mom to teach us dogs not to bother the kitten's. She had to put muzzles on us, and for me that was very shameful. But as you can see now from the photo, we like the kittens. Course I think Jenna would still prefer to try and kill them. She doesn't look too happy in this photo does she?

Any way we are very happy about winning. Dannii especially since I am the one who mostly gets into trouble. Every year it is always between me and another basenji, named digger jones. Its always gone back and forth, except for this year. Dannii usually doesn't get into trouble, so digger and I conceded to Dannii.

You all come back again.

the kitties grew up!

2010-08-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

Hope you all remember those little kitties that mom's human son found last year. They were so small, that I just wanted to chomp on them.

In case you forgot, this is a picture of them. When the human son found them in the storm, there was only two. So we don't know which of two of these we have.

This what they look like now. All growed up. We dogs get along with them. Thanks to mom. Course in the beginning it wasn't fun, as mom had to put the muzzle of shame on us, so we wouldn't try and bite them. I have to admit, Jenna was the worst. She wanted at them in the worst way, but now she accept them, as the rest of us do. They are in and out cats, which mean's they go outside whenever they want to and come back in the eat and play. Mom wasn't going to keep them, so only named them "girl cat" and boy cat", as they are brother and sister. When they were tiny, mom couldn't bear to part with them, so when she did decide to find homes for them, it was too late, as they were not the little bitty kitties they once were. They are brother and sister, and the girl cat is more into investigating things than what the boy cat is. He seem's to be a bit on the skittish side. Mom got the girl cat fixed, so she wouldn't be having any kitties of her own, and now she need's to get the boy cat fixed. He has gone out at night, and mom thinks he mated with every feral female that is around. She says that if white siamease kitties start showing up among all the feral cats, then he's the dad!

Well, I gots to sign off now. We're going to Point Isabel today. There won't that many b's there today as our meet up is only once a month, but mom's new friend and his dog Ramses are suppose to come also.

You all come back now, ya hear!