Balou

So in the continuing story of getting another puppy/dog: after Joeri talked with me on Friday he sent me pictures of the 9 month old dog.

I now know his name is Balou. I don't know if that is pronounced Bay-lou or Bah-lou or some much more German or Danish pronunciation.







Either way I think we're gonna take a road trip. It'll be me and Shari and Trillian all piled into the SUV. We'll go to Redwood Krest and introduce Trillian to Balou and Balou to us. If he and Trillian don't get along, well then we can't take him. But if they do we'll see how well we think he would fit in.

Puppy decisions

I just got off the phone with Joeri of Redwood Krest. I told him what happened with Dasko and how the vet thinks that it wasn't a heart defect but just overwhelming infection, and how all the staff at Adobe were quite shocked.

Then I asked Joeri about the 9 month old dog he offered us earlier. I had a decent sized list of questions that I had written down before with help from Shari and Karine.

The first question I had for Joeri about this puppy (whose name I still didn't ask) was is he housebroken. Unfortunately the answer is not really. He has been in the kennel for the last 3 months so he would need watching and training. However he is crate trained.

Next question I had was about bite inhibition. Joeri is not a native English speaker so he wasn't sure what I meant when I asked that. I eventually got my questions boiled down so I got the answer of the puppy doesn't nip. So no real info on bite inhibition, but his bite threshold is pretty high.

The puppy has only a little experience riding in cars, and almost no experience with buses or city streets. Since Redwood Krest is a pretty big kennel he wouldn't have had a reason to leave until later in his training. And he didn't get there before his bite was shown to be not show-worthy.

When I asked how far this puppy's training got I was told that it wasn't very far along at all. I'm taking that with a grain of salt because he would have been trained for Schutzhund. Joeri said that he knew sit, and down, and walking on a leash. In fact his 4 or 5 year old son can take the dog on a walk.

Joeri was very emphatic about how well the dog was socialized and how excellent his temperament is. He did say that as a kennel dog he is a little wild right now, and would take at least 6 weeks to get into our routine. Joeri suggested that we keep him on a leash inside until everyone was used to things, and gradually go from always holding the leash, to having a leash trailing, to no leash. I did ask specifically about our small house and yard and bringing the puppy to work, and Joeri still said that the dog would adjust in 6 weeks and be happy with a routine.

Joeri also pointed out that at roughly 9 months old the puppy is already shown to be free of any debilitating hip defects. Anything truly crippling would have shown by now. That doesn't mean that he won't get arthritis later in life, but that can affect all dogs and even all people.

I asked about what the bite defect was and was told "reverse scissors" bite. Basically the dogs has an under bite instead of an over bite? or maybe it is the reverse of that. Anyway it is nothing that will affect the dogs ability to eat a bone, it just keeps him out of the show ring.

Also Joeri said that he is just trying to find a home for this puppy. Most of the people he sells puppies to want the next championship show dog, and with a puppy with a flaw that will never be a possibility. And because Joeri feels bad about Dasko and wants a home for this dog he is willing to give us the puppy for free.

So now Shari and I need to think about this a bit more.

Giving Blood

I gave blood last night. I went to the Stanford Blood Center in Mountain View and had an appointment and everything.

I'm really glad that they took my blood, since the last couple of times I went to give I didn't have enough iron. But this time I had a hemoglobin number of 13.7. 12.5 is the minimum number, but I have no actual idea if that is percent or what.

Anyway it's always neat to see how they take blood. There is the big bag that is the blood that other people use, but there is also a smaller pouch that gets filled first and it used to fill test tubes. They fill the smaller pouch first just in case any bacteria or dirt from your skin got into the blood. I find it really interesting and strange that the tubing from the needle to the bag is warm and a very deep red. Completely logical, but strange.

Dasko :(

Reposted from my livejournal:

Dr Jane Johnson, who was there when Dasko died, just got back from vacation. She left me a voice mail, which I just finished listening to.

Dr Johnson said that Dasko's lungs had large areas of necrosis: there were large dead areas with clots and infarction. She thinks it is probable that he had multiple infections that either caused or resulted from a weakened immune system. Dr Johnson pointed out that there are tests to check for multiple infections in humans, but not for dogs, so we'd never know. So she thinks that infection(s) just overwhelmed his defenses.

She also said that it was unlikely that Dasko had a heart defect. If he had one serious enough to cause this then it most likely would have been noticed previously: i.e. someone would have heard a murmur or something.

On Tuesday morning Dr Adam listened to Dasko's chest and didn't hear any of the pneumonia. But on Saturday morning Dasko died. The necrosis happened so fast I don't know what we could actually have done to save Dasko. I'm sure that if we hadn't taken him to the vet Wednesday night he would have died then. But listening to what Dr. Johnson said about the necrosis in his lungs I don't think that bringing him in any earlier would have materially changed the outcome. As the other Dr. Johnson at Adobe told us, the necropsy of lungs didn't have any bacteria or viruses in it. So his body and the antibiotics had fought off whatever had started this process in his lungs but his lungs were already dying.


I miss my puppy monster.

New Dog?

So the reason we got Dasko still stands: we need a friend for Trillian. Yesterday I called the breeder I got Dasko from to see if they had any puppies available. Unfortunately, two litters that had been born in late June and early July were both all spoken for.

The next time Redwood Krest will have puppies in in 4 weeks. I had the breeder put my name down, but that is no guarantee that they will have a puppy that is suitable for being a pet rather than a Schutzhund trained dog. Also a minimum of 4 weeks is a while, and I'm not sure how lonely/bored Trillian will get in that time.

The breeder also mentioned that he had a 9 month old male. He had been saving this dog for himself but the teeth are misaligned, so it won't be suitable for showing. Joeri, the breeder, was quite happy to tell me about how this puppy worked well with an older male dog and was well socialized with people, including children. This dog also wasn't aggressive with the chickens they had running around up there, but had no experience with cats. I forgot to ask if he was food aggressive or how dominant he was. I also intentionally didn't ask for his name. Names are too easy to get attached to.

Flowers

Thanks for the flowers. I'm not sure who sent them, since the card isn't signed, but thank you nonetheless. I really appreciate the thoughts.

Video of Dasko

Dasko from Dan Sully on Vimeo.

This video was taken on the first weekend we got Dasko, so either June 28th or 29th. He is still a little little puppy here. Only about 30-ish lbs. But you can already see how sweet and playful he is. You can hear the start of what would have been his adult bark.

Dasko is Dead

He died around 9:45am this morning.

The vet said that his lungs just deteriorated too much. There was air as well as liquid in his chest. Basically, she said, his lungs turned into holes in his chest.

They don't actually know what caused this, so I've requested an autopsy and they are going to send some lung samples off to be tested. I don't have any idea what they will find. I'm guessing it was that the giardia plus whatever viral infection it was that just was way too much for his puppy immune system to handle.



We'd brought him chicken broth last night. Shari took the pic above with her iPhone. He ate it, and wanted more, because chicken was always his favorite thing. He threw it up initially, but I thought that was because he got too much water at the same time. When we called at 3am last night he had eaten almost all of the broth we had left there and was moving around enough that he had disconnected his catheter and they thought that was ok.

But you can see it in that picture, his eyes are too bright. He'd given up on trying to heal himself, and when we were there put his energy into making us happy. I'm glad that my last memory of him is him smiling at us after eating the chicken, but I really really wish he was sitll alive.

I miss my puppy monster...

Very Sick Puppy

Dasko is currently at Adobe Animal Hospital. He spent the night there last night, and will probably be there for another "3 to 5 days." The vets there think that he has pneumonia, and so far all the blood tests they have run rule out the other things they think it could be.

Anyway Tuesday shortly after I made my last post Dasko threw up 3 times. Apparently the antibiotic irritated his stomach. So when our friend Karine took her puppy, Sequoia, to Coastal Holistic, she picked up some anti vomiting medicine and some gastrointestinal balancing medicine. Dasko wasn't a fan of them and while he drank water he didn't have any interest in any food. He also threw up a few more times, usually when the anti-vomiting medicine ran out.

On Wednesday Shari worked from home to watch the puppy monster. He wasn't really being a monster though. He mostly lay around and gave her sad looks. The kind of look that says: "I trust you, I'm sick, make me better."

Wednesday afternoon I got a call from Coastal Holistic. They had run the poo sample we gave them. Dasko has Giardia. So I made plans to take him in to see them Wednesday night. They would take another look at him and give us some stuff to clear up the Giardia. At about this time Dasko started lying outside. In the shade. The last time a dog did that it was Bohdan, and it was right before he died.

Shari and I took Dasko to the vet. He was so lethargic we had to carry him to and from the car, and into the building. We were having a good discussion with the Vet about the interactions of the Upper Respiratory Infection and the Giardia and what we should do for Dasko. Then the Vet took Dasko's temperature. He had a temp of 104.6. Normal range for a dog is 101 to 102-ish. Suddenly the Vet was telling us to go to Adobe, or some other emergency clinic.

So we piled back into the car and I called ahead to Adobe to let them know that Dasko was on the way and his issues. At that point we weren't sure if he had eaten a sock so I made sure that they knew we would need x-rays.

We got there and waited. There were 2 dogs ahead of us in the triage list. One of them was having breathing issues so it took a while to get to Dasko. While we waited we were in one of the exam rooms. It was hot in there and Dasko's temperature went up to 105.6.

Dr. Rogers was the vet on call. I like her, she is a very no-nonsense vet and seems quite competent. Unfortunately the last time I saw her was the night Bohdan died. :( When she saw Dasko she was surprised to hear that he wasn't geriatric, based on how dull his coat was and how lethargic he was.

Anyway she looked at the x-rays and saw a lot of fluid around Dasko's lungs. Fortunately she didn't see anything that looked like a sock. In fact his intestines were quite empty. She suggested immediate IV of fluids and antibiotics and a nose tube so Dasko could be on oxygen. He was clearly in a lot of distress just trying to breath and giving him extra oxygen would help his breathing be more effective so he would have to use less energy at it. They also are giving him some aerosol antibiotics in the oxygen tube.

I'm really worried about Dasko. I want my fatface puppy monster back and healthy. And given his lack of prognosis I'm really worried that he won't get better. Apparently pneumonia is common in puppies, but he still has a very serious case.

Sick Puppy

This morning Dasko had a surgery appt scheduled to have a tooth removed. He has a baby tooth that won't go away. So we loaded the puppy monster into the SUV and drove to the Vet.

We got there and wrested him onto the scale. Dasko is now 66 lbs, that is up 6 lbs over the last two weeks. And he is only 6 months old!

Anyway once we were there they were giving him a final preliminary check. The vet tech noticed that he had a snotty nose. That was new! He didn't have that the night before. So the vet came out and gave him a more thorough check. Dasko has swollen lymph nodes, and is running a bit of a temperature. No anesthesia for him! and that means no tooth removal.

So we were given a bunch of antibiotics and some immune boosting powder for both him and Trillian. We were also told to give him some yogurt twice a day as a probiotic. Then we were sent home. We'll go in again next Monday for a checkup. If the checkup goes well we'll bring him the next day (Tuesday a week from now) for the actual tooth removal.

I guess this fever/upper respiratory infection explains why he was lethargic on Sunday night. I had chalked it up to lots of romping in the morning with Sequoia at Dan and Karine's house, plus a bit of indigestion since I thought I fed him too many ribs. But now I think it was really the start of the sickness. Especially since Karine is taking Sequoia in to the Vet today, because he has a similar thing but it's moved down into his chest.