No, Mommy!

I have always had trouble sleeping. However, throughout the pregnancy, I have had even more. One particularly distressing night a few weeks ago, I woke up at 1:30 AM and never fell back to sleep. Early on in the pregnancy, I would cuddle with Zeldie on the couch. This would put me right to sleep. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband, but Zeldie's pleasant biorhythms are hypnotic to me. Whereas David's breathing sounds like a hurricane raging in my ear, Zeldie's regular soft breaths are like a gentle breeze. Whereas David's 200+ some odd body takes up half the bed, Zeldie's petite little 32 pounds tucks and curls into me like a pillow. Whereas David's twitches startle me as I fall asleep, Zeldie's regular heart beat lulls me effortlessly into unconsciousness. It used to be she would stand up, wag her tail and wait for me by the crate door. In the morning, when David would wake up to take her out, he would have to persuade her to get off the couch. However recently, she has not been so agreeable. In fact, she has seemed downright displaced. The past few sleepless nights, she has been at the back of the crate and I have had to pull her out of it. She jumps off of the couch after we lay down causing me to retrieve her so we can settle back down again together. And perhaps the most telling of all, when I wake up in the morning, she is laying on the floor, somewhere else in the room, as far away from the couch as possible. I imagine this is her way of saying, "No, mommy! I am a big girl now, too big to cuddle with you." At 14 mos. old, that strikes me as a bit sad but also inevitable. I suppose when you depend on your puppy as your Ambien, at some point she will make it clear she is an independent being and it is an inappropriate responsibility. I guess the only thing for a Mommy to do at that point is to take some Benadryl, get a Homemedics SoundSpa and buy a few more pillows.

A Sophisticated Palate

Our dog is a picky eater. Or so we have thought. When Zeldie came to us, the breeder sent her with a ziplock baggie size supply of food. This was the source of much consternation for me because the vet had said not to change her diet for at least 2 weeks. Instead, we had to start mixing her food immediately. We originally started her on Science Diet Puppy formula. Initially, our plan was to feed her that until she turned a year and then start her on something less expensive. Soon though, her skin became dry and itchy. She would scratch at her skin until her hair fell out and it would bleed and scab over. She apparently could not tolerate the grain and by-products used in most commercial dog foods. It took us some time to figure this out. Sometime during September, at least 3 mos. after she arrived, we learned about food allergies for dogs. It didn't take long for us to put two and two together to determine Zeldie had food allergies. We did some reading and decided that we needed to switch her to a more allergy and wire-haired coat friendly fish based food. We decided on Halo Spot's Stew Salmon formula. After all of the reading we had done, we were very excited about this formula. Zeldie was not so much so but we didn't notice. We proudly served her the food. We watched as she sniffed at it indecisively and reluctantly nibbled a few bites. We were satisfied. We kept giving it to her. Even though she rarely ate a full bowl. Even though when we gave it to her she would turn over her bowl. Even though when we left it in her crate she would bury it with her blanket. Even though when we went to our friend's house, we couldn't keep her away from the Pedigree. Even though, by the time we got to the bottom of the bag, she would snub it all together. We thought, "Our dog is so quirky. Look at how funny she is turning over her bowl." And, "Our dog is such a picky eater, she doesn't like stale food." We thought, "Our dog is so thin, it must be because she gets so much exercise at doggie day care." If Zeldie has thoughts they were probably somewhere along the lines of, "Idiots! In what other way can I tell them how much I hate this food." This past week, David went to buy the Halo and they were out of it. Flat out of it. And we were out of it. Flat out of it. So, under duress, he picked up a bag of the Wellness Ocean formula which is a whitefish based dry dog food. We fed it to our picky eater hoping for the best. And surprise of all surprises, she ate the whole bowl all at once as fast as she could, like any other dog I have ever known. We stood there in awe watching her eat. She must have been famished after having been starved for a year. She has been eating the Wellness for a few days now and she has finished every last bite of every last bowl. Every time I see the shiny bottom of the dog bowl, I have to admit, I am simultaneously fascinated and overjoyed. If she could have only told us she preferred whitefish to salmon, perhaps she wouldn't have had to wait so long for us to catch on.

Balloon vs. Zeldie

We finally found out what scares our "daredevil" of a dog--helium balloons. The Irish Terriers are known to be fairly fearless, earning the nickname daredevil (seriously, look it up). Most things her curiosity gets the best of her and she wants to really explore whatever it is. However, after David's 30th birthday party last night at Dogfish Head Alehouse, we brought home a few balloons. When she saw them, she went from lightly growling, to pawing at the carpet to backing up and putting her head down. Maybe she thought they were floating heads or something, but we wish we got her behavior on camera because the balloons were not even moving, just floating there.

Conjunctivitis for Dogs

One day we came home from work and noticed Zeldie was squinting like she couldn't see. Her eyes were all red and looked bloodshot. She also had some discharge running out of her eyes. This being new to both of us, we did what any couple would do, we googled it. Of course, the first thing that came up was a page on Red Eye for dogs which seemed to fit her symptoms perfectly. The problem was that Red Eye for dogs is the equivalent of pink eye for people and the side effects include possible blindness. This sent at least one of us into a tizzy. We held her out of doggie day care and took her to the vet first thing in the morning the next day. As it turned out, Zeldie did not have Red Eye for dogs. Zeldie had allergies. And now, we give her eye drops to alleviate the aggravation it itchy, puffy, red eyes. It seems like we have crossed a threshold into the absurd when your day consists of giving eye drops to a dog and this is a more tolerable notion than allowing her to rub her eyes with a paw.

Zeldie by the Numbers

We have now had Zeldie 1 year. we went to pick Zeldie up from the airport 365 days ago. Since we have had her, she has been in 3 dog training classes. She has had 2 different dog walkers. She has been kenneled 4 times. She has traveled by car to NY 2 times. She has traveled by car to NC 2 times. She has stayed in a hotel 2 times. She has met 4 other Irish Terriers. She is 32 pounds. She eats 2 cups of food a day, sometimes. She has swallowed 1 nylon knee high and 1 plastic bottle cap. She has stolen 1 set of diamond rings, but did not swallow them. She has eaten 1 pair of glasses. She has 2 allergies of which we know. She has had 2 prescription medications. All in all, it has been a good year. She has 115 days before she is no longer the baby of the house. We don't think she has any idea what is coming.