Standing Ovation

Sometimes the successes in your life come from where you least expect them. Last week was a difficult week for the Fursons. Our youngest Furson, DJ Puppy aka Furzee, had spinal surgery. He has a condition called Wobbler's Syndrome, which as you might guess, is indicated by an inability to walk in a stable way: the dog wobbles. DJ first exhibited symptoms around Christmas time, when he fell— down some stairs. Then again on a slippery floor. We first thought he pulled muscles, or that our floors were too slick. Then we thought he might have blown out his knee when he fell the first time. We took him to the vet and they prescribed some pain relief and said to come back in a week or two if he didn't improve. He didn't improve, and in fact started to drag his front paws on walks. Fortunately Robert researched enough to suspect that this indicated a sign of nerve damage. We got him into a neurologist who immediately recommended an MRI. Following the MRI, it was determined that DJ Puppy has Wobbler's—a syndrome where the spinal cord outpaces the growth of the vertabrae, compressing the spinal cord and causing nerve damage and a loss of control of his limbs. It's a condition that causes falls, rather than the falls causing the condition.

After seeing Dr. Sisson at Angell Memorial in Boston, we booked a date for DJ to have surgery. This appeared to instantly improve DJ's condition. His paws started dragging less within two weeks. His mood improved. He fell less frequently. As he seemed to stabilize, we questioned whether or not to even do the surgery. It's an expensive procedure with a small but real chance of catastrophic results. We consulted our neurosurgeon; he wisely reminded us that while we could keep DJ on anti-inflammatory medication, this syndrome is progressive. Which means that if we did not act at some point, it's likely he would become paralyzed. The doctor also advised that the better condition the dog is when he goes into surgery, the better the results.

So we did it. Or rather, the outstanding and wonderful Dr. Sisson did it. It was an 8-hour operation. DJ was in the animal hospital for two nights. Dr. Sisson mixed DJ's dinner by hand and personally took him on the short outings to check his progress. There is a six inch incision on DJ's chest, and another small one on his shoulder where a bone graft was taken. When we went to pick DJ up last Wednesday, he was again falling. It was a difficult, difficult week. The nature of the operation required our 136 pound dog to be in an extended position for a long time; this potentially caused additional pressure on the spine; our doctor thought this would be temporary but our own nerves were tender and we as "dog parents" were worried all over again when we picked him up last week.

But resilience is key to survival. Dr. Sisson was correct in his projection that DJ Puppy would likely continue to improve daily, and over the course of just one week, DJ has gone from post-spinal surgery drunken dog to fast-moving big beast! He's walking (even running at times) well, his mood is getting back to Joyful (his middle name, remember?), and he's as naughty as ever. Just yesterday he started to put his mammoth paws up on the counter at the vet's to reach a treat from a jar at the back of the counter. All of which I take as a good sign.

Here's another good sign, one that the universe is supporting you even when you don't know it. For Christmas I had made a calendar of images of family pets for our niece & nephews. Apparently our nephew Ben, a brave and talented public speaker, brought the calendar to school—and reportedly his middle school class has fallen in love with DJ. They heard about the surgery, and on Tuesday, while DJ was still at the hospital, Ben raised his hand and asked his teacher if he could make an announcement. Of course, she said. Well, he reported, DJ Puppy has come through the surgery and is recovering nicely. The class applauded—and continued on to give him a standing ovation. It might be the equivalent of a middle school urban legend, but I suspect it's all true. While DJ (and we) were struggling, an entire class of young people—the next generation of doctors and presidents and teachers—were showing faith in Furzee's resilience. Well, they were right. He's doing just fine.

Thanks for all the support,
the Fursons

For more information on Dr. Sisson, Angell Memorial Hospital, or Wobbler's Syndrome, see:
www.mspca.org/vet-services/angell-boston/neurology/neurology-casestudy.html

The Pupdate

Some dear friends have asked me the following extremely fair question in recent weeks: “What about the other dog?” Those of you who know Lexa, know that she is an unbelievably adorable, funny, slightly mischievous, and sweet Berner. (She’s shown here at last summer’s puppy party for the nieces and nephews in celebration of her birthday—complete with pupcakes, for real, and a hand-crafted party hat, which I can't take credit for.) She’ll be nine this August. I hesitated to post too much about her lately because we have been going through the detective process of finding out what was causing a small bump on the side of her eye. There were two primary possibilities: an inflammation caused by an autoimmune condition episcleritis, which is treatable, or histiocytosis, which for Berners is a dangerous condition akin to cancer.

There is excellent news: the final lab report came back saying that these cells do not show any sign of histio, so with a day surgery, various ointments, shots, and drops, Lexa’s eye is healing nicely. Despite my precarious merges into mid-day highway traffic, multiple visits to a canine opthamologist, and daily applications of medicine, Lexa has remained cheerful, even buoyant. Anyone who’s had a Berner knows that our time with them is a gift. Some would even say we are on borrowed time with Lexa, as most Berners live to be about 7 or 8 on average. But I think any time with a loved one is a gift. So go home and hug or call someone you love. Or you can just make a batch of pupcakes and pass them out at the bar. Whatever you do, share the love; it'll multiply on its own.

*post script: After an intial series of treatments by our vets [recommended! NE Veterinarians www.vetcor.com/salemma], the vet treating her said: “At this point, you may want to take her to an opthamologist.” Me: “Um, this may be really obvious to you, but do you mean a DOG opthamologist?” Him: [chortle] “Yes.” We had her checked out and treated further by Mass Vet, open 24/7 www.intownmassvet.com—which I highly recommend if you find yourself in a serious situation such as ours, or if your dog needs reading glasses.

The Raw Deal Or, Fortunately, Our Neighbor’s Brother Was a Butcher

So when we got a shipment of raw meat for the dogs, our neighbor loaned us his cleaver. Robert set up shop in the driveway: a butcher block balanced on his table saw, surrounded by a couple stacks of card board boxes with icy frozen meat; a scale for weighing portions and an assembly line area where 2 anchovies and a glucosamine tablet were added to each portion. Zip-locked and tossed into the freezer, a lean cuisine for pups ready to go.

First Sue came by as we were unpacking the cardboard boxes from the truck. She told us about her brother-in-law and then reappeared moments later with his cleaver. We were grateful; ours was child-locked in comparison. This tool was hefty, allowing the weight of the knife to gain momentum as it’s swung, and slice quickly and easily through semi-frozen chicken carcasses. Sue, a retired nurse, seemed unfazed by the boxes of chicken backs, necks, and frozen whole mackerel. Even the bag of tracheas (for treats!) didn’t cause an eye to bat. She jumped right in and started bagging the meat with me as Robert chopped.

Another neighbor’s two kids stopped by on their bikes. Their mom asked what we were doing and we demonstrated, featuring each step and describing the nutritional value of feeding our animals raw. Their coats are glossy; their digestive tracks are designed for raw meat, not rice products, etc. Soon, we had the nimble fingers of a 5 and 7-year old adding the anchovies and glucosamine tablets. They took direction and asked for no pay!

So if you want your dogs to grow up big and strong—on a diet their systems are designed for—consider feeding them raw meat, or a dry food with similar content. Purchased in bulk, it's actually less expensive than kibble. While feeding our dogs raw is not something we hold to all year long—we feed kibble from Evo at times when we haven’t had time to set up shop like this—it does seem to be better for them. And when you’ve got a village and a real butcher’s cleaver to help make it happen, all the better.

Check out Evo for great kibble (yes, nutritious AND delicious!): http://www.evopet.com/
and good pre-packaged raw food: www.omaspride.com/

Take Your Dog to Work Day

Today DJ has gone to work. Not the traditional carting work which he was bred to do, but instead today he is interning at an ad agency in Boston's South End. This concept is actually rooted in the US feminist movement and was launched in 1993 when MS Magazine created "Bring Your Daughter to Work Day",  designed to expose girls and young women to various career paths and encourage professional aspirations. In 2003, the gender divide was relieved and now multiple organizations promote "Bring Your Son or Daughter to Work Day" in order to expand young people's interests and potential paths.

Um, "Bring your Dog to Work Day" has no such application. While allegedly DJ has filed a few expense reports and created a couple spreadsheets so far today, probably the value of this event is more in the contact between animal and humans, and the simple reminder to do what you love, love what you do, and keep it all in perspective.

For more information and inspiration, check out:

www.takeyourdog.com/

and

www.daughtersandsonstowork.org

When Living By the Seashore...

We have a friend* who just recently moved from the city to the small seaside town where we live. Having made a similar move, from New York city to this small town, I can relate. At first it’s too quiet. Too clean. Everyone is in shape, or at least seems to exercise regularly—and probably takes a daily multivitamin too. Families seem neatly shaped, stacked in place with perfect parents, offspring, and every possible possession, from stroller to Subaru, necessary to propell that family forward for the next twenty years till the children go to college. You feel funny, like you might suddenly and loudly curse in Starbucks for no reason, or that your library books (if you roll that way!) will be monitered, or that the music coming out of your apartment windows will reveal you to be what you really are: a city person misplaced in a small, beautiful, town.

But I give our friend props. Within a month, he’s worked on a friend’s sailboat getting it prepped to go in the water, he’s discovered and grilled a new kind of marinated meat from the local grocery store, and he bought his dog Lucy this collar. 

It took me living here about as long as I’d lived in Manhattan in order to loosen the grip on metropolis pace—and that’s with a few years in Brooklyn as a transition before moving here. I embraced the suburban supermarket instead of the deli at the corner, but it’s taken some time to get into the pace of “town”. Once here, the city still appeals. But there’s no need to wear it. Where we are is alright by me. 

*okay, you guessed it, the friend is "Food Guy", whose cuddly yet stylin' Boxer Lucy is staying with us this week.

Personal Trainer

If you need a personal trainer of the calorie-burning, gym-sort for your dog, get a Boxer. And when I write Boxer, I mean a dog like Lucy. She’s our house guest this week, while her owner “Food Guy” is in Europe.

Our two Bernese Mountain dogs generally enjoy a life of leisure with one or two moderate walks a day. When Lucy is here, it is like watching a drill sargent in action: she has DJ up and boxes him into submission and exhaustion within minutes. After that she trots, nay skips, over to one of two open wooden boxes where we keep dog toys and selects a toy as if she were a personal trainer picking out weights or medicine balls to shred her client’s muscles with. She brings the selected toy to panting DJ and I swear I can almost hear her grunt, “C’mon, let’s see what you got!”

At the end of the day, our dogs sleep soundly, slobberingly, and gratefully it seems. Lexa, the senior dog, perhaps grateful for a distracted and depleted puppy in training. And Lucy? Dreaming of the next round.

Pranic Puppy

I’m no yoga expert—I’m a yoga grazer. I like going to all kinds of classes and learning from all kinds of teachers. One thing is clear and consistent however, and that’s the feeling of prana. The energy or chi that spreads through my blood as I move through poses, and lingers afterwards.

When I wake up and head to brush my teeth in the morning, both dogs usually sleepily roll on their backs, lifting their giant gracious paws in the air, offering furry bellies for rubbing. After I sat in yoga “awakening my pranic energy” by patting my own arms and legs, I realize dogs ask for and receive this awakening naturally, instinctively, by offering themselves up, paws in the air.

Why our cat thinks he owns our dog

When DJ was a puppy we crated him. DJ is the first dog I’ve had from puppyhood on, so crating seemed very much like “caging” or “locking up”. The reality is however, as most dog experts will tell you, their crate really can become more like their room: a place for quiet time and an opportunity to rest and feel comforted.

DJ’s crate was placed in the bedroom, just below the windows which look out onto the street: an ideal location for a cat to make his habitual perch. And Charlie did. By day, he would watch the neighborhood’s comings and goings; by night, while DJ shifted and settled, Charlie would watch him intently and occasionally dangle a paw at the 20-lb, 30-lb, then 40- and 50-lb Berner puppy. DJ seemed unconcerned and was probably absorbing so much about the world, that a cat hovering above him nightly was the least of his concerns.

It seems however, that Charlie was perhaps doing something I didn’t realize. As I read NOW about how to establish and maintain alpha position in relation to a dog, I think back to Charlie's earliest training of the dog, and I consider his relationship to 138-lb DJ now. Charlie always sits at a level above DJ and when DJ comes too close without permission he gets a swat from the cat paw. This inspires the dog to get low and stay humble. Charlie occasionally leans in to DJ’s massive head and takes a nibble on his forehead—but the affection is given only when the cat chooses. Just to be sure he understands fully who’s in charge, when DJ turns away to lay down, Charlie drags his claws through the dog’s black coat, keeping a souvenir of his pet for himself.

We all speak dog

Some may find it a curious fact that our dog speaks Chinese. We discovered this one day when one of us repeated a phrase we heard on tv: "shi shi". We used DJ's nickname Furse (pron. 'Fur-Sah'-- see blog #1), and said, "hey Furse, shi shi!" He responded just as he had to the phrase when it came from the tv speakers: with a cocked head and curious penetrating gaze. As if to say, "What was that? Go out? Now?"

We laughed and tried it again. My knowledge of Chinese is limited one lesson I had in the 9th grade when I learned to say "Ni How Mah? (How are you?) Heahn-How! (I'm fine!)" and also the fact that tones change the meaning of the word—even one syllable can mean something completely different when said with a different lilt. 

So, "Furse, shi shi!" became "Shi shiii? Furse?"  and "Furse! shi SHI!" Every time he responds, looking at us with an "I'm on it!" or "You got it!" or "Really?" look on his face.

Hence we gradually became convinced that if we speak fake-Chinese to him, surely he must understand the real thing. After all, it's said that dogs can comfortably comprehend up to 200 commands. If this is true, we're on our way. Any suggestions for the next phrase in Mandarin?

post script: If this inspires you to write a children's book with this idea, don't even bother—get a snack and watch the NASCAR Pocono 500 instead. One of the world's most adorable books ever has already been written on the topic . I discovered it a couple months after we realized DJ speaks Chinese. Where? in the gift shop of Portland, Oregon's Chinese garden of course. What a find! Check it out for yourself: 

www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=2-9781840595048-1

And while you're virtually visiting Portland, check out the gardens!

www.portlandchinesegarden.org

Introducing the Fursons

We are a family of 6: my fiance, our two Bernese Mountain dogs, and two cats. For some time we have called our home Animal Kingdom, but with time comes new names.

The most senior member of Animal Kingdom is Lexa. She is a beloved 8.9 year old Berner in amazing shape. While she lounges gracefully most of the day, given the opportunity she'll leap up and down at the prospect of a good walk. Lexa's full name is Newcastle's Lexa Pip!

Our other dog (a year and half old, 138 pound Berner) has a variety of names: DJ Puppy is his given name. The name didn't intend to stand for anything other than "disc jockey"-- in the weeks leading up to getting him, we pictured a Berner puppy with giant headphones (after a late night seeing the amazing DJ Bassnectar!). However, like Lexa, he has a more formal name which includes the breeder-- and that is: DeGrasso's Joyful Mystery.

After bringing 17 pound ball of puff DJ Puppy on a whirlwind tour to meet nieces, nephews, and granddogparents at Christmas, one week after we got him, a 3-year old nephew intending to say "He's so furry!" instead said "He's so furzy!" Furzee stuck, and soon became the faux-Icelandic "Furse" (pronounced Fur-sah).

The other morning Robert got up before me and let the dogs out. He came back to the bedroom and announced "The Fursans have been out, but have not yet had breakfast!"

Well, meet the Fursons. Within a week, this agile proper noun has comfortably fit our family like a warm furry coat...big enough to include everyone, even the two cats: Charlie and Johnny Perez.

PHOTOS:
1. Lexa and DJ now
2. Lexa and DJ 2007
3. Charlie
4. Johnny Perez