Leo's Turn

Alright, nothing is going on here - I have to take matters into my own paws and write down what's going on in this household. The woman and the man have not updated this blog for the past month - now it's MY turn!

Let me introduce myself (the woman and the man have not done a good job describing my incredible personality and skills...):

My name is Flöcki, I am a beautiful Leonberger in its teens (in human years, that would be ONE). Although I have been told that I destroy everything in sight by simply playing in the yard, I find it hard to believe that anybody can compare my ballet dancing hops through the grass with an elephant in a porcelain store. I am a cute little puppy and I do have a heart of gold; especially when my younger sister Lili steals my bones. I am a good sport and I pretend like I can't get it back - I could, but I find it much more fun to chase her. My chore is it to water all the bushes and trees in the neighborhood. Sometimes Lili is in the way, but yellow stripes suit her great!

We've had some changes here recently; we are not allowed outside in our yard anymore! The Woman made it quiete clear and now every 4 - 6 hours somebody puts us on a leash and walks us around the neighborhood. Not that I mind, after all, there are plenty of trees I can water and plenty of other walking dogs I can say "HELLO" to. But what we can't do is anymore is take a mud bath in the back and chew on the deck. I think this is essential for a happy dog, though! Mud baths give me beautiful skin and chewing on the deck keeps my teeth clean! What could be better than galloping through the yard, chasing butterflies (and little sisters, and barking at neighbors?

We think the man is actually building something out there so we can actually be outside but not mess everything up - let's see when this will be done!

The Man With The Dogs

lyrics - the man with the dogs

Song Of The Day: The Man With The Dogs - Dead Kennedys

Diva Dog

From Diva Dog's MySpace Site:

I am a sweet-natured pit bull who was run over by a hit-and-run driver in Malibu. I was left permanently paralyzed. But don't be sad! My daddy got me a doggie wheelchair, and I became the toast of the town. Now I have my own movie! It's all about me, and it stars a bunch of famous people who were touched by my story - Debra Wilson, Linda Blair, Jordan Ladd, James Madio, Kelli McCarty and more. We have endorsements from animal lovers like Maria Conchita Alonso, Rue McClanahan, Ed Begley Jr., Kathy Najimy and Persia White (check out her band XEO3 in our top friends).

First Vacation

While we had to go up to Northern Wisconsin for a 3-day-trip, Flöcki and Lili went on vacation at their training facility and, according to their friend, Marla, they both had a blast. Lili developed into a social butterfly while Flöcki tried to hump everybody...

Song of the day: Beautiful day - By U2

Long awaited NEWS!

For everybody that has asked about Flöcki in the past months: he is absolutely FINE!

We have heard so much about Blastomycosis - a lot of negative, but also some encouring information - and we are SO LUCKY that Flöcki is doing very, very well. Although he is still on medication and blind in his left eye, his eye pressure is fine, he can keep the eye and his body is reacting well to the dosis of the medication.

We've been through a rough time and we want to thank everybody for their support!

okay... BIG jump, from Halloween to Christmas, no, even New Years! almost...

Flöcki and Lili are back on BARF. I contribute a lot of Flöcki's health to this diet. He was so skinny before he got diagnosed with Blasto and now he is adding on the pounds without a problem. Both dogs seem very satisfied with their daily meat/bone/veggie intake; their fur is shiny and their digestion is well. The only problem I had with their diet was overfeeding. With Flöcki needing so many extra calories to gain back his weight, I probably fed them way too much - not they have gotten fat, but there was no chance to motivate them by food anymore. Luckily both dogs will not eat more than they are hungry for, otherwise I would have them rolling around *grin*.

I continued to train both dogs throughout the rest of the year, but it was hard, because they seemed so not interested. I hope we are back to a healthy level and I also hope to keep them motivated for further training.

More in the new year! Have a happy one!!!

Happy Halloween!

Tonight is Halloween... Lili will be a sheep tonight - no need to change custome! Julian said he is not wearing a costume if he can't be "IT" from Stephen King's "IT" - which is MY worst nightmare! I read the book and no clown has passed my doorstep after that!

I decided to give out JellyBelly's in my favorite flavors:

Bacon

Black Pepper

Booger

Dirt

Earthworm

Ear Wax

Grass

Rotten Eggs

Soap and

Vomit

Update on Flöcki

Flöcki seems to be fine in the morning; he is probably rested from a good night's sleep and wags his tail in the morning. This morning he greeted me standing up - a big improvement, as he was too groggy to get up the past days. He tires down easily; I would say 2 minutes in the yard and he is done. He gets easily annoyed by his playful and bouncy sister Lili and tries to get some zzzzzzzzzzzh's in the corner of the fence.

Lili is a little confused, since she used to jump on her big brother and chase him. Now he seems to be like an old man...

We are back on BARF. I heard that a lot of the people whose dogs got sick with Blasto switch to the raw diet, because of its fatty qualities. The medications get absorbed better. This morning he had chicken liver.

--[*barf*]--

Flöcki drinks like a sink; so at night he found a way to get all that "water" out of his system by peeing out of the gate (that leads to the kitchen)... Great! Now I fear we have to crate him again. I just hope he cannot lift his leg in there, or we have the same thing outside his crate door...

His eye does not seem to get better. I'm not sure how much time it would need to heal. So, I guess he will just be blind on that eye. We are monitoring his other eye carefully, just in case he will get any cloudiness in that one as well. Flöcki's limping has gotten much better and his open lesions seem to be healing. We are hoping it's a thumbs UP!

Blastomycosis

The last week has been like a roller coaster ride... Unfortunately, Flöcki is not well. The bump on his nose did not get any better, he started to limp, first on one, then on both legs, then his eye started watering... We took him to the vet right that day. They diagnosed Flöcki with Blastomycosis, or short: Blasto.

While this first week on medication is crucial, we are really hopeful that he will make it through this. He might loose one eye, since he has developed glaucoma in that eye, but we are hoping that the other one will be just fine.

Thanks for all the support; all the emails, contacts, phone calls, stop-bys and get-well-wishes. We truly appreciate it!

If you want to find out more about Blasto, here are some links:

Blastomycosis In The Canine with photos

eMedicine - Blastomycosis

Health Articles -Canine Blastomycosis

Blastomycosis Articles, Information, Stories and its Victims

Blastomycosis - there could be a fungus among us

Personal Stories:

Angelina

Dixie

We'll keep you updated on Flöcki's condition. Right now he is on Itraconazole, Antibiotics, Inflamation Medicine, as well as various eye drops for infection and glaucoma. He's also on an alternative medicine with Shitake mushrooms to boost his immune system.

I would like to URGE all of yo ..

Hump de bump

well, well, Flöcki's bump has not gotten better, instead it is now a leaking abcess. As nasty as that sounds, it is actually a good thing that it is dripping! We went to the emergency vet yesterday and they opened it, washed it out and gave us more of the antibiotics. So, we are hoping that this will take care of everything.

Flöcki is relaxed and sleepy from all the pills he's taking (with yummie peanut butter; he doesn't even mind a wet & warm washcloth on his nose 2x a day to keep the wound open and his white anti-scratch collar around his neck... Good times!

Rock-a-bye baby, in the tree top
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
And down will come baby, cradle and all

Hump de Bump

"Hump de Bump" is a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, however being off Stadium Arcadium from 2006, it brings back the funk from the likes of albums such as Freaky Styley.

Another morning @ the vet... II

Ahhhh, only half as bad as I thought it would be

Lili's stitches were out in no time, and Flöcki's bump is nothing serious; a bruise from the gentle leader that we introduced for training purposes. We'll leave it off for a week and Flöcki is as beautiful as ever!

Getting those big puppies in and out of the car was tough, since I need to use a ramp to get them moving. But with a little bit of coordination, it all worked out just fine. I should get a lighter ramp though. The one I have is made out of plastic and it is brutally heavy! Aluminum sounds much lighter! An elevator would be even easier...

Leonberger Puppy