Feeling a Bit Under the Weather

I'm sick! This weekend I was feeling weird. My bottom itched so much that all I wanted to do was rub it on the floor and then lick it.

My master and mommy weren't to happy about it. They kept chasing me around the house, telling me to stop, but I just couldn't.

On Saturday they took me to the vet to get me checked out and the vet said my glands needed to be expressed. They took me to the back room and did what they had to do. I came back feeling so much better.

The vet said that since I'm half Beagle I have a tendency to suffer from annal gland problems, but that if I lose some weight (I can't believe she called me fat) I should be able to avoid this problem in the future. The vet said my fat bottom is not allowing the glands to be expressed naturally. Who knew!

Once I got home, I thought my issues were all fix, but that wasn't the case. I still had this irresistible urge to scoot and lick, but since my owners were not happy when I did that before, I was pretending everything was okay in my butt area.

On Sunday I new I was going to be home alone for a few hours, so I resisted the urge to scratch until I no one was watching me. It felt good for a while, but then my bottom started burning. Once mommy came back she saw that something was wrong with me. I looked very sad and I couldn't stop licking under my tail. Also, the trail of blood on the floor, carpet and my bottom gave it away.

I was rushed to the vet and this time the vet said I had infected my bottom with all the rubbing, dragging and licking I did. Now they had to clean the infected area, prescribe me some medicine and let it drain/heal for a few days.

The vet said that I should be placed in a crate for some days because my bottom needs to drain/bleed until it starts healing. If being crated wasn't bad enough, I have to wear this uncomfortable hat for 2 weeks. The hat/cone is meant to stop me from licking.

The vet must be crazy! Doesn't she know I'm not crate trained? Plus, I'm super smart and that cone won't last on me too long.

Master and mommy bought me this wired crate that I hate! They put me in there Sunday night and I cried my eyes out. I panted to the point I was going to pass out. Mommy had to take me out of the crate and that made us both feel a lot better.

As soon as I came out of the crate, I had this tug of war with that awful cone and I got it off my head. By this point it was 3 a.m. and mommy was already too tired to fight with me. I had kept her up all night with my crying.

We went into the second bedroom so that master could sleep. In there mommy had one of my other beds with my blanket, and I went under the blanket and fell asleep right away. My bottom was still itchy so I attempted to to lick it and scratch it a few times, yet mommy always stopped me.

I've been on antibiotics ever since and my bottom is doing a lot better now. Mommy has not slept much and I'm trying really hard not to lick or rub my butt.

The good news is that after that sleepless night, the wire crate was returned to the store and the hat has not returned to my neck. The bad news is, that I'm back on a diet.

No Dog Crate for Me

Ever since I was adopted by mommy and master, I've enjoyed my freedom at home. I know my host mom at the rescue shelter used to leave me inside a dog crate when she went to work, but those days in captivity are history for me.

Somehow this weekend mommy thought it would be a good idea to try dog crating me again. I don't know who gave her that BAD idea.

She bought this portable dog crate to see if I would go in there. My bed and some toys were placed inside, but I knew better to put one paw inside that box.

I walked around it, sniffed it, stretched my neck to try to get my toys out of it. I took some out, but there were some in the back I couldn't reach.

Mommy placed a trail of treats into the crate and I carefully went inside, eating the treats quickly just to come back out. The only way mommy got me to stay inside the crate/tent was by throwing the entire bag of treats in there. Once I saw that, I knew I had to go in an protect the bag. As long as the treat bag was in there so was I, but I was not planning on being trapped into staying inside this tent.

After a few hours of just watching me come in an out of the tent, mommy knew this is not what she wanted for me. Why would I be confined to this plastic house, when I've walked free in the house for 2 years. I don't destroy anything in the house and I don't have accidents. I do understand that I'm on guard when visitors come over. I pace around them a lot, but that's why we have that dreadful gate they put me behind.

I was glad to see mommy pack up the dog crate to return it to the store. My days of freedom are not over. I'll continue to stroll around the house at my own discretion.

I promise to stand down my guard when we have company. I will try.

Picnic at the Park

Summer is here! Well at least this week it is. Today the temperature reached 95 °F and since mommy is working summer hours we decided to go to the park.

We went to this huge forest preserve with many ponds. I saw ducks, geese, weird birds and fishes in the ponds. There were also other dogs there.

I wanted to run free and chase everyone, but with so many people around - bikes, skaters, runners, kids and family fishing - mommy was afraid that I would just try to mark my territory and keep everyone away. I wanted to play, but the leash only let me do so much.

Mommy set camp under this big tree and we sat there for a while. I explored my surroundings, ate grass and marked the tree a few times. The heat was a bit intense and I saw mommy was resting on this blanket she brought with her. I decided to join her to cool off. On the blanket I drank iced cold water and had a few treats.

Mom and I snoozed for a while enjoying the cooler breeze. We were waiting for the sun to go down before setting off on a trail to explore the park.

The park had so many different smells I couldn't stop sniffing, but after a while we decided to head home. The closer we got to the water the more mosquitoes I encountered and mommy said she didn't want me to get bitten.

I was tired from the heat and the long walk, so I was looking forward to the car ride back home.