Caution! Wet Spots Ahead.

Yep.  You guessed it.  The incontinence is back and it's back with a vengeance.  I was getting a little nervous that there might actually be something serious wrong with her until I found some of her medicine "hidden" around the house.  Now I have to watch her eat it to be sure she isn't stashing it around the house.

Sigh.

A Pintrest kind of day(s)

Since Matilda has Addison's Disease and incontinence, she takes medicine twice a day, every day.  She picks around the pills if I put them in her food, but she takes it willingly if I put it in a snack.  I had been giving her the pill pockets made my Greenies, but they are $9.00 per bag and she goes through a bag in less than a month.  Once I decided to look for a cheaper alternative, I started putting them in cheese.  She loved that, but I think the cheese was starting to give her stomach some issues.  By chance, I came across this recipe on Pintrest.

I was having a lazy afternoon, so I decided to try it.  I didn't have crunchy peanut butter, so I used the regular peanut butter I had on hand.  Mine didn't come out as pretty as the picture, but it was the exactly right consistency to neatly hid a pill.  Matilda was hesitant at first, but she ate it and now she looks forward to getting her medicinal treat.

For the past couple of days, I've been finding little bugs on Tildy.  I've decided that they are fleas and I'm not happy about it.  This is the second year in a row that Frontline Plus has failed me in the month of August.  It might be time to reassess.  Since it is too soon to do another application of Frontline, I again turned to Pintrest for help.  There, I found this DIY flea shampoo.

While I didn't see bugs floating in the water when I was done, as the recipe said that I would, I also didn't find any bugs on Tildy when I was done.  The flea dirt was gone too.

Pintrest to the rescue once again.

Both of these ideas came from a list called 38 Unexpectedly Brilliant Tips For Dog. Owners.

Devil Dog

Don't let this sweet face fool you.  Matilda has an anger management issue.

I've always known that she has separation anxiety.  To try to make her look forward to me leaving the house, I started giving her a special treat before I leave.  She now gets excited when it's time for me to go, so I thought the snack really did the trick.

I think the snacks were just a temporary fix because a few weeks ago, I came home to this.

She wanted me to think she was ashamed, but she really wasn't.

After this, I started putting the bedroom trashcan on top of my dresser when I leave for work.  Problem solved, I thought.  (Yeah, right.)

Today, while I was at work, I though about Tildy and envisioned her like this.

The reality was probably more like this.  (Cue the "Psycho" music.)

When I got home, I found two pair of my underwear in the middle of the bedroom floor.  Matilda had rummaged through the load of laundry that I had left in the hall floor and forgot to put in the washer before I left the house.  Apparently, my departure turned Tildy into a demon dog.  She ripped one pair of underwear to shreads.  The other pair was ripped in a few places.  I can only assume that she ate the crotch from both pair because there were no random scraps of cotton anywhere to be found.  I would share the pictures, but I feel funny about having pictures of my underwear floating around the internet.

I have no idea how to deal with this problem, but I won't ever leave laundry in the floor again. That's for sure.

New Shoes

                              

I bought these shoes in 2010 for the Lupus Walk in Washington, D.C..  Since then, I've used them almost solely to walk Matilda.  We walk twice a day for a total of about two miles.  By my estimation, these shoes have almost 3,000 miles on them.  I love these shoes even though the sole is separating from the toe and flopping on the back of one of the heels.  The only reason I have decided to retire them is that I stepped in a pile of poop and I can't seem to get rid of the smell.  I feel bad about throwing them away, especially when I see a homeless person walk down the street.

                           

These are my new shoes.  I bought them for this year's lupus walk.  They aren't as comfortable as my old shoes, but I'm hoping they will be after a few more miles.

Groundhogs Day

                                

This afternoon, I got home at the same time as I always do.  I went straight up the steps to greet Tildy, like I always do.  I changed out of my work clothes, into my walk-the-dog clothes, like I always do.  As I was walking down the steps, I realized that I was wearing a white t-shirt and black pants for the third afternoon in a row.  I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to the fact that I was stuck in a rut except for the fact that I saw a good looking guy during our afternoon walk yesterday and I caught him checking me out as he drove toward the hospital.  If he was on his way to work, I would hate to run into him again wearing the exact same thing.  But by the time I had thought it through, I was already at the back door and Matilda was barking incessantly, so I threw on a different baseball hat than I wore yesterday, and kept it moving.  As it turned out, I didn't run into that guy, but it did make me think I need to step up my walk-the-dog outfits because you never know who you might meet while walking your dog down the street.

Age Spots

Last night during belly rub time, I noticed that Matilda's belly has a lot more age spots on her belly than she used to. 

She had two large spots that I'd noticed before that were easily identifiable. But now it seems like they've multiplied exponentially overnight.  

My girl is getting old.  Sigh...

JINX! Buy Me Some Laundry Detergent.

Yesterday, I was reading over last year's blog posts and realized that I left y'all hanging on the incontinence saga.  I chuckled to myself at the difficulties I had last year and was happy that it was all in the past.

Then this happened last night.

Soaked clear down to the sheet.  To her credit, she did ask me to go around 3:00a.m., but it took me awhile to realize what was going on and to wake up enough to get down the steps and outside.  Once we got there, she was more interested in the smells of the night than actually handling her business.  It took her 15 minutes to find an acceptable spot to pee.  Talk about frustrating!  Then three hours later, at 6:00 this morning, she was begging to go outside again.  As I was rolling out of bed for the second time of the morning, I discovered yet another wet spot.

This is the first accident we've had in awhile.  The last series of accidents occurred when a new boyfriend was spending a lot of time here.  Once he was gone, she stopped having accidents.  Not sure what's causing the problem this time, but I'm thinking I might've jinxed myself by laughing at my prior posts on this problem.  Here's to hoping this was an isolated incident.

Please Don't Interrupt My Zen

Last week, Matilda and I encountered an unleashed Rottweiler roaming the neighborhood by himself and leaving his business all over the place.  The dog lives down the street from us and I used to see his owners walk him in the evening.  When I stopped seeing them, I thought that maybe they moved or something happened to the dog.  Nope.  They just let him out to handle his business.  Since their yard isn't fenced, he just roams freely.

This irritates me to the Nth degree.

First of all, this is a total disregard for the safety of the dog and those that the dog might encounter.  A dog around the corner from us got hit by a car six weeks ago.  He jumped the fence and ran out into the street and got hit.  The driver kept going.  The dog now has problems with his back legs and hips and may need surgery.  This Rottweiller could've gotten hurt or killed.  He could've been the cause of a serious car accident.

What if the dog had come across someone and felt threatened?  He could've bitten someone.

I've been able to avoid the dog when I've seen him, but if Matilda had seen him, I would've had a real situation on my hands. Tildy doesn't really like other dogs.  She doesn't care how much bigger they are, she'll growl, show her teeth, and get ready for a brawl.  And Lord help the dog that looks like he's out to get me!  The last time that happened, she bit the nose of a pit bull puppy.

Secondly, it is completely disrespectful, in my opinion, to just let your dog poop wherever he feels like it and not be there to pick it up. I've stepped in enough piles of poop to feel quite strongly about it.  I hate it when I see folks at the park letting their dogs poop in the same places where kids run barefoot. It's just wrong.

I think what irritated me the most in the moment that I spotted the dog, was that it interrupted the zen-like flow of my morning walk with Tildy.  That's normally the time of day that I take in the wonders of nature and have my private little talk with God.  It's also the time that good ideas tend to pop into my head.  Seeing the dog immediately made me defensive and scared. That's a horrible way to start the day.

I'll end my rant here.  I hope we never encounter this dog again, but I'm pretty sure we will.

Where My Two Worlds Collide

There are two things in life (outside of work) that I devote a lot of energy - making quilts and loving Tildy.  Awhile ago, I decided to combine my two passions and I made a quilted dog bed for Tildy.

I love it, but she barely uses it.  I then decided to make a pillow cover for the couch pillow she has claimed as her own.

A couple of weeks ago, I threw the couch pillow cover in the washer.  It didn't hold up so well.

One of the seams began to come apart.  I think next time I need to use a bigger seam allowance.

I couldn't bare to part with it because I love this fabric so much, so it is now serving as a mat under Tildy's water bowl in my bedroom.

Works for me!