Animal House: Power Your Home With Pets

Animal House: Power Your Home With Pets

Sometimes it would be nice if Remy would do some chores around the house.  I'm thinking a part time gig would help him learn some responsibility.

Mirror Puppy - See Remy Run

Silly Remy at 11 weeks old.

You put staples, where?!? - See Remy Run Blog

Well, it's been quite a while since I last posted about Remy.  Just this past week we finally neutered him now that we have his Addision's under control.  While being neutered, the vet recommended stomach and intestinal biopsies as well as a gastropexy.  The gastropexy is a procedure where the stomach is sewed to the abdomen to prevent torsion during a possible bloat episode.

Remy has a pretty nice incision which is held together with some painful looking staples.  He was really out of if (as expected) after I picked him up from surgery due to the morphine they injected him with.  He couldn't walk straight, it was so sad, but I couldn't help to chuckle a bit.  His brain knew what he wanted to do, but his body just wouldn't cooperate.  The next morning he was still wobbly, but doing better.  As of today, he is feeling pretty darn good, he is wanting to play, which is a concern to me because I don't want him ripping those staples out.

His staples come out next week, so hopefully we will make it through without incident.  He is a tough spirit to contain.  I am continually amazed by his ability to bounce back with everything he has been through.

Here are a couple of links if anyone wants to learn more about a gastropexy and bloat:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_gastropexy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloat

 

Remy Loves Blackberries! - See Remy Run Blog

Remy loves eating blackberries, he is obsessed!  If we let him, he would sit outside and pick off all the rip berries and enjoy them all himself.  I've never seen a dog actually pick out the best berries, maybe I'm just sheltered.

This is a fun video of Remy and Bella playing.  Bella is a Belgian Malinois, which is a type of Belgian Shepherd.  She is about 10 years old in this video, and she still acts like a 4 year old!

Big Paws... - See Remy Run Blog

...big dog?  This isn't always an accurate predictor of how big the dog will be.  It can be used to judge in general, based on the ankle bone size, but many times, the puppy's overall bone structure will indicate the same thing the feet do.

Remy had huge goofy paws as a puppy, and big fat ankles that he flopped around everywhere.  My favorite thing about puppy feet are the soft pads, although, I don't miss those razor sharp nails!

I'll put up a video of his goofy running in the next post!

You talkin' to me? - See Remy Run Blog

Remy's ears are up....with some help!  I love his face in this photo, it's like he is saying "Eh, you talkin' to me?  Are you.  Talkin' to me?"  Sorry, movie quote diversion.  Speaking of, what movie is that from anyway?  Well this post just went to hell in a handbasket, I think I'll call this one complete!

Dancing in the Rain! - See Remy Run Blog

Well, we weren't quite dancing in the rain, more like walking.  It started off a hot and humid spring (I remember it being more like summer) day but quickly turned into a massive rain storm.  It had basically rained everyday since we had gotten Remy so it wasn't anything new to him.  At first he ran around happy as could be but as the rain continued he went from normal Remy to...

Sad water logged Remy!! He was so cute, but so sad!

Remy Learns to Garden - See Remy Run Blog

This set is a continuation of that perfect spring day.  There isn't too much for me to say, aside from wishing I had taken more photos of him in action!

Handle with Care - See Remy Run Blog

This is my favorite puppy photo of Remy, although the one I posted of him running is a close second.  I don't know what it is that makes me like this photo so much, maybe his floppy ear that is trying to stand, or the 'handle with care' box next to him that foreshadowed the future.

A scarey thing about Addison's disease is that when a dog has a highly stressful event, such as surgery, they can go into an Addisonian crisis, which is basically shock, and the dog can die on the operating table if it wasn't being managed.  Luckily, I had held off neutering him because he was so sick, and I didn't want to cause more stress on his body.  So by luck, and just a bit of intuition, I may have potentially saved his life by holding off on the neuter.

Del Boca Vista Social Club! - See Remy Run Blog

An important part of puppyhood is socialization.  We tried to take Remy everywhere we went; this helped him learn what a normal day was like, with all the sights, sounds and smells.  Puppies go through fear stages, where certain ages leave more of an imprint on them than other times.  These periods aren't meant to scare people into keeping their young puppies sheltered, they should be a time to reinforce how fun and happy the world is.  Positive experiences during these stages will dramatically help the puppy cope with situations for the future.  They truly are a sponge, so the more positive the better!  I am by no means an expert, or even remotely close, but I did try to be aware of these stages and tried to make the most of them.

Remy loves going to the local feed store to meet new dogs, people and any other smell there is.  He recently began enjoying peeing on merchandise fixtures, despite my preemptive attempts to prevent them!

Sleep again?!?!? - See Remy Run Blog

I do apologize, but I just can't help to show off how cute he is when he sleeps!  Obviously puppies sleep a lot, but as I'm sure I've said before, he slept a lot more due to his Atypical Addision's disease (or at least that makes the most sense).

This won't be the last sleeping puppy photo you will see, I can assure you, but I plan on posting some more 'exciting' photos.

Ears Up!

My ear is going up!  One thing I love about German Shepherds, or all up eared dogs for that matter, is watching how their ears go up.  Once they start, it's amazing to watch the changes.  One day it will look like the above, the next it might be down, and within hours they both could be up, only to be down again tomorrow.   It really is an ear dance, and you never know what you will get.

I began to notice, that after he woke up from sleeping and short naps, his ears would stand up.  They would slowly go down while he was awake.  I must admit, I was nervous that his ears wouldn't fully stand, but looking back on it, I was silly.

MORE PUPPY SLEEP!

This dog sure does know how to sleep!  He wasn't your normal German Shepherd puppy, he was very calm when he was awake, due to the Addison's I suspect.  Definitely not the hyper land shark that most German Shepherd owners have come to expect in their puppy.  He was a breeze to potty train though!  He only had one or two accidents in the house, and within a week or two, he knew to sit and wait at the door.  These German Shepherds sure are smart dogs!

Adorable Sleep

Remy fell asleep with the tv remote control in his hand.  There is just something about a puppy sleeping that just hits your soft spot.  He falls asleep in the funniest way, but always appeared to be extra comfortable!

Perfect Spring Day!

It was a perfect spring day, we were gardening and Remy was 'helping'.  He was being so cute, I had to stop what I was doing and grab my camera.  I called him my way, and this was the result, the best puppy run!

I posted slightly out of chronological order, but I just couldn't help it when I came across this photo!

On my way home!

Remy had such a long day at the dog show, he slept the whole drive home!  We had to wake him up to stop at a rest stop for us!  We were so excited that day to bring such a cute little guy into our family.  To this day, he still has that raccoon stuffed animal.  We think he has an attachment to it because he has destroyed every other toy we have given him, except this one!

Siblings

This is a photo of the first time we saw Remy in person, it was a perfect spring day and the sun was shining.  He and his sister (in front) were watching the dog show intently.

Remy has one brother and one sister, they were a small litter, but they sure did have fun together!  They loved to rough-house, but as you can see, they really enjoyed each other's company.

Meet Remy, the White Shepherd

Meet Remy, the bundle of joy that has proved to be a medical basket case.

Some background on this breed:
Remy is a White Shepherd/White German Shepherd.  I often get asked if he is albino, or if he is pure bred.  The white color is not due to the albinism gene, it is a masking gene.  This means that when two white German Shepherds have puppies, all of their dogs will be white.  The white color actually covers up the "true" color, so for all we know, Remy could be a sable in color, or a black and tan.  No matter the color, he is still a German Shepherd, he just happens to be a color that is more rare than most.

The white color was introduced into this breed when the creator, Max von Stephanitz was choosing his stock for breeding around 1899.  Max was on a mission to create a great dog, and didn't care about color, so one of the foundation dogs for the German Shepherd was white.  This is how the color was introduced into the gene pool.  Later, around 1930s, the color white was considered a disqualification, and has been the case since.  This is the reason a white German Shepherd is less common.

Remy:
We brought Remy home in May 2010, he was a bit over 10 weeks old.  We were so happy to have him, but little did we know that we would be in store for a medical roller coaster.  We recently found out that he has Addison's disease, which is a hereditary ailment that afflicts the adrenal gland.  This is a manageable disease, and prognosis is good, and here's to hoping he is on the road to recovery.

This Blog:
This blog will be a place to look at cute puppy photos, and watch Remy grow.  I will also share funny, sad, baffling, and any other story I can think of that has happened in his life up to this point and into the future.