Just some pictures

From a run in the pasture earlier this week. The usual cast of characters for the pasture r uns: Sweet Serena, Clyde, Theo, Diesel, and Max.

Loving that sunshine

Wednesday morning was cool and beautiful. Maya and I did 3+ miles with Diesel and Serena, and another 3+ miles with Trooper and TJ.

My girls, Maya and Sweet Serena. A pretty pair.

I've been off work this week except Monday and there's really no way I'd rather spend my time.

Maya and Diesel are about the same size, or should be.
He's about 10 pounds heavier now and is mostly fat,
while Maya is mostly muscle.

We ventured into the woods on this walk on some trails that
I knew wouldn't have much mud. It makes for a more
interesting and challenging walk.

I'm not sure why I ever thought I could own a vehicle other than a van.

TJ, Maya, and Trooper

It was cool enough that both the boys were very full of energy.

Maya still likes walking with Trooper best.

Vet Visits

Busy afternoon with vet stuff.

Maya was due for vaccines and her annual exam. She's quite healthy, but it was pointed out that she's seven years old now so I'll start her on a joint supplement and I'm going to switch her, Trooper, TJ, and Sparky to Costco's senior dog food. Should have done that long ago for the other three, but since those four dogs eat the same food, and no other dog in the household eats that food, it makes sense to switch to the senior formula. The senior food contains a good dose of the joint supplements, but I'll still give some additional supplement to all four dogs. I had already been doing so for all of them other than Maya.

My little girl is going up, but she is and always will be daddy's girl. They took her in back for the blood draw and said she was fine with it but she didn't want to leave me and was constantly looking for me back there. I hate for her to ever feel like I'm not there for her.

Diesel came along too, but just for a weight check. He was down one pound, which didn't impress me but the vet pointed out that it hadn't been much more than a week since he was last there. I need to get many more cans of green beans; he's getting half a can of them along with a mere cup of food twice a day. He has learned to like the green beans and he gobbles them up, but he's supplementing his diet with leftovers of other dogs' food, usually Sparky's from the front porch. He's also been eating mud. Diesel may hate the diet but he really enjoys the exercise part of his weight loss program. I had him out for over thee miles again this morning with Maya and Sweet Serena.











I think I mentioned that Mercedes had been returned from her first adoption. I haven't yet mentioned that she has a new prospective home, but I took her to the vet today because her hair loss and itching has gotten worse. We came home with prednisone and antibiotics, and I treated her for fleas although none were found on her. The new home seems like a perfect match for her - no other dogs, just cats, which she likes, and constant human companionship. Keeping my fingers crossed that we can clear up the skin issue and make it permanent.




















I took those three dogs to the vet this afternoon but I came home with four. No, I didn't take on a new dog, I picked up Coco who had been in for her final round of heartworm treatments. She got one injection Tuesday, spent the night, and got the second on Wednesday. Now, hopefully in six to eight weeks we can get her spayed and then adopted. She's going to be on strict crate rest for a while, but she's really pretty good about that.

Busy afternoon, but I think that took care of all our current vet needs.

The Afghan Raffle

At the risk of being accused of shameless self promotion, I'm going to once again mention the Afghan Raffle that was organized by the GSD Lovers group on Ravelry.

I wrote a blog post about it before Thanksgiving, titled "Thanks in advance of Thanksgiving."
If you didn't see that post, the short version is that this wonderful group of generous knitters have made this beautiful afghan and are raffling it off and donating the proceeds to benefit our rescue efforts. The raffle ends December 8th, so there's still plenty of time to get in on it.

Once again, here are the details as they were given to me:

***HANDKNIT AFGHAN RAFFLE***

Just in time for the holidays, buy some chances to win this beautiful handknit afghan made by the GSD Lovers group on Ravelry! Details:

1. Chances are $2 each or three for $5. You can mail me a check (message me for address), use my paypal link (see below), or hand over cash :-) If we do not know each other and you use the paypal link, please put some sort of contact information in the notes so I can get in touch with you if you win.

2. Afghan is made from easy care wool/acrylic blend yarns and is approximately 5 feet wide by 6 feet long. Machine wash warm on permanent press, tumble dry low. No bleach.

3. I will track all chances purchased in a spreadsheet and draw the winner via random number generator.

4. Drawing will take place on Saturday December 8 at 6 p.m. EST.

5. Afghan proceeds will go to support vadogrescue.blogspot.com, a couple who do incredible fostering and adopting work in Virginia. They are NOT a not-for-profit so your purchased chances will not be tax deductible.

Buy early, buy often, and good luck!!! Thank you for supporting us and the work of rescuers everywhere <3

https://paypal.me/GSDLoversAfghanRaffl

And here are some pictures from today's walk, with Maya, Sweet Serena, and Diesel. We went about 3.5 miles, partly on the roadway, partly on the field trails. The trails down near the river and in the woods are too muddy still. 

It was Diesel's longest walk yet and he kept up very well. He's carrying a lot of excess weight, but he's a young dog and he really seems to enjoy it. 

I found a harness that fits Diesel pretty well.

Serena is very alert to sounds in the grass.

We haven't seen a deer yet with Serena
on a walk. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it.

Serena is beautiful and sweet, but she eats stuff that
isn't food! I had to induce vomiting on her again today
after I saw her eating a rope toy she found in the dog yard.

Because the leash attaches to the harness on
the top of the Diesel's back, it helps prevent him
from getting the leash tangled up under him.

Diesel rides in one of the crates because he chewed
through a leash on the way to the park one time.

Dogs will be dogs

It was a rainy day, but the ground was still saturated so today's rain either ran off or stood on the ground where it fell. The rain stopped and the sun even tried to come out a little bit this afternoon. The dogs were bored. I've only allowed Max and Clyde in the dog yard since we've been home. Clyde doesn't run in the mud and I can't prevent Max from doing so. I've kept the others indoors in an effort to keep them, and the house, somewhat clean. But dogs will be dogs. Humans can lay around and be lazy indefinitely, dogs don't really care if they get wet and muddy, and they reach a point that they need to run regardless of the weather. Mine reached that point today so we went to the pasture.

Theo's leg seems to be healed up nicely, but
I still took it easy on the ball throws today.

Max and Serena

Sweet Serena pursuing Max, who has a ball in his mouth.
Diesel in the back, running. That's got to be good for him.

Diesel is still sort of a big blob, but he's got
the strength and energy to run now, so we'll
be doing more of it each day.

Max and Theo under a partly cloudy sky.

Max, Clyde, and our house up on the hill.

Serena had her head buried in the bushes most of the time.

Clyde, with ears flapping in the wind.

Theo with two tennis balls in his mouth.

Clyde's got a nice form, just needs some meat on him.

I think Clyde lost some weight while being
boarded, but he's back on Satin Balls and
will be eating three times a day.

Diesel's nose is always brown because
he's always rooting around for something.

Max