Sunday, May 4, 2008

Deep breaths and the Bug

Ike has continued to make life interesting. Yesterday John, Ike, and I drove out to New York to pick up one Honor-Bug, a Cardigan Welsh Corgi. Holly, Monty's breeder, was placing a lovely male named Honor. Honor is three points away from his championship and was going to be part of Holly's breeding program, but one hip did not pass OFA certification. Her vet had no hesitation saying that Honor (or Bug, his nickname) could do agility.

Honor says, "What are you doing with that thing?"


Holly and I have been talking for a couple of month's and I had expressed interest in one of her bitch Sabrina's pups that will be whelped in May. Then Bug's hip did not pass which worked out well for me. Bug is a 2 yo blue merle with tan points. He has an incredibly sweet personality. He and Ike hit it off immediately. The two dogs had met once before when we stopped in to visit with Holly and Leonard on the way home from Ithaca, but I was more obsessed with Holly's puppy Chloe at the time!

The very exciting news is that I am going to try handling with Bug. Holly would like to finish his championship and I would LOVE to try UKC conformation, as well as agility, herding, tracking, etc. Of course, all of these are contingent upon Bug liking them, too! We will see.

The first things I need to do with Bug is find a handling class and enroll him in a basic manners class. He just turned two, so he is still a baby.

When we got home from New York yesterday Ike started madly going after his foot - he was good as gold all day about it. Drat!! I was a bit worried and spoke to Katrin who recommended taking the staples out. Unfortunately the staples were not straight, so I didn't feel comfortable doing that.

Honor says, "Hmmmm...it does smell interesting."

Second suggestion 25 mg of benadryl and some Vicks Vapor Rub to hopefully encourage Ike to LEAVE THE FOOTIE ALONE!! Nope. Ike spent the rest of the night in my lap with me preventing him from getting to that foot.

Things we discovered about the Bug last night. He is not 100% about stairs. He went up my very steep stairs but REALLY didn't want to go down them. I tried using canned duck as a lure/coax, but no dice. I carried him down to the fourth step from the bottom and had him walk down from there. This will be something to work on.

He is not reactive to cars. Yay!! He is minimally interested in my birds and g-pigs. At first he pretended they did not exist and at one point when DJ was flying he hid under the coffee table. But as the night progressed he got more comfortable and bold about them.

He tried to mount Ike and Ike had him on the floor in less than a second so I guess Ike is the boss. He is not as big a jumper as Monty but was able to get up on my bed. He preferred sleeping on the floor, though.

This morning we all got up fairly early because John had a basketball game and we were planning on walking the dogs together. I had put a snow bootie on Ike's foot to prevent him from bothering it over night. When I took it off this morning the WHOLE foot was swollen. Oh no!!!!

I called Katrin in a panic and she called me back. The owner of the clinic I go to has his cell phone number on it in case of emergencies. I wasn't sure if I should actually call it. Katrin said, Yes. : ) I was possibly going to go to the animal e-vet in West Bridgewater. I called Dr. Crowell and left a message. He called me back at 8:05 and agreed to meet me at the clinic at 8:30. Yay for small vet clinics!!

Dr. Crowell said that it was possible that one of the staples had migrated and was pinching a nerve and that could be bothering Ike. He also said it was very possible that Ike does have a secondary infection due to the location and the fact that he has been bothering it. So, Dr. Crowell took the staples out, put a huge dob of antibiotic cream on the incision and wrapped the foot up. He prescribed 10 days of antibiotics and some Temaril for 9 days to help with the inflammation and itching.

On the drive home we hydroplaned severely and almost hit both a tree and a telephone pole. It was VERY scary. It was distressing because I do not have a car crate for Honor yet. If we had made impact it would not have boded well for the pups - neither was in a crate (Ike because he won't fit comfortably with the e-collar). The possibility of just such a thing happening is why I think crates in cars are a good thing - or at the very least a seat belt.

We made it home safely and grateful to be in one piece. I gave Ike his medicine and he has been conked out since. Bug has been sleeping in the computer room with me and sniffing the g-pigs while I type. The Bug staying with us was supposed to be a trial situation but Ike and Bug hit it off immediately and John and I already love him like he has been our since he was born, so I don't think this is a trial!

12 comments:

Katrin said...

"so I don't think this is a trial!"

hehehe, sounds like when Monty came to me "on trial" and I was in denial about it for about a week. Everyone else saying, "Katrin he's here to stay" and me saying "No. No. No." And Monty looking at me saying, "Yes. Yes. Yes." Guess who won?

I already know about all the other crazy things with your nutty schnauzer, glad it's working out with the meds.

Holly said...

You don't know how happy Leonard & I are that you both are so happy with The Bug. He is a very special boy and I know you will have so much fun with him.

Shaya said...

Wow, very exciting! Will I be able to meet Bug at class in the next 5 weeks?

Jules said...

Yes, it is definately NOT a trial period!!

We love him.

Shaya, I am bringing him on Tuesday to class, so you can meet him then.

Blue said...

Honor is so handsome! I can't wait to meet him. I have a soft spot for merles :) He sounds like he'll be a really fun dog.

I hope this round of antibiotics will clear up poor Ike's swollen foot. Dogs never make things simple for us, do they?

Also thanks for reminding me to pick up a seatbelt for Iris. I've been meaning to since I can't fit her crate. Glad you guys are ok.

Traci said...

As Holly can attest to, I have a huge fondness for Honor as well, and I look forward to keeping up with his antics! :)

Diana said...

ok, I think you have had enough excitment for the last several weeks. Hopefully things calm down. Congradulations on your new dog, he is very cute. Diana

Cat, Tessie, & Strata said...

Ahh, congrats! :D

Hey, if you're looking for somebody to show Bug, you know, there is this junior handler you know who is kinda sad that her Sheltie is too big to be shown and that her Springer is funny looking and she's going to a BUNCH of UKC shows this year and she could fit a Corgi-sized crate in her car and she'd love to do it...

Not to mention any names. :x

K9-CRAZY said...

Yay! Congrats on the new addition!

Jules said...

Thanks! I am very excited to have HonorBug in my life. A nice side benefit is the active Cardigan community. Very cool!

manymuddypaws said...

OMG!!!! you got a cardi!!! yay for you! ;o) how exciting....

very cool!

Jennifer said...

Yippee! Another Crazy Cardi person. The Bug is such a pretty boy. I have a weakness for those blue boys. Hmmmm. I wonder why!?!?