Scare

Yesterday I had a bit of a scare with Grace.

Now, I have had my share of doggie injuries and ailments, that I have treated at home successfully. But, yesterday was something else, and I felt a little overwhelmed. Blame it on being pregnant, hubby not being home, whatever, but I ended up taking Grace to the E-vet. Luckily, my brother is staying with me during his spring break, so at least I wasn't freaking out alone!

So, rewind. Yesterday afternoon, my brother and I were outside hanging up a bird feeder and the pups were out in the yard with us. We were outside for about 15 minutes, cleaned up and we all came inside. Then, my brother went in his room and continued playing his computer game, with me sitting on the floor talking to him, with Grace beside me. She then started in incessantly licking her "girly parts" and I am thinking she must have a yeast infection or something. I try to keep her from licking herself, but she was insistent on it, even started itching the area. I looks closer and it's red and a bit more swollen then usual...

Then I looked at her in the eyes and on one of her eye lids/eye brow area I noticed and small raised bump. "Humm that's new" I think. I touch it and examine her, nothing stands out too odd, except the licking. Things escalated quickly after that...

From the time we came inside to this point, maybe 20 minutes, give or take, had gone by, and I am starting to notice the spot on her eye has gotten bigger and I am thinking her lips look swollen. She is also starting to itch everywhere. So I got up to the kitchen to find some Benadryl, thinking "ok she must have gotten stung or bit by something", unfortunately there was none to be found, and Grace's face, eyes, and snout are clearing swelling at this point and she is starting to itch anything and everything she can.

My brother and I load her up in the car and head to the Walgreens around the corner, where I run in like a crazy prego lady and buy the medicine and run back to the car. Her eyes and lips are so swollen, her eyes looked like she could bearly open them and she was developing hives. Not to mention she is going crazy in the back seat rolling around and itching. I shove 2 pills down her and we head home.

I only waited about 15 minutes, before I called the E-vets number because she was so uncomfortable; pacing, whining, painting, swelling, hives and it was starting to scare me. I started thinking the worse, like her airway was compromised, or she was going into anaphylactic shock.

We made it to the E-vet, and she was less itchy, but still swollen. (I only had one crying breakdown on the way and I blame it on the pregnancy hormones) They took her back and gave her a "Benadryl like" shot and a steroid shot, observed her for about 20 mins, and brought her back to me.

Left is her normally, the right was her face after the swelling started to go down. (She was wet in the right picture, because I wiped her face down with a wet rag)

She was still a little swollen in the face, but seemed much better and they doctor explained that she most likely did get bit/stung by something and Grace is just very very allergic. In the future, if she is stung again, I now know this and won't be as freaked out. I can just give her the medicine, try and keep her calm and watch for any warning signs of distress.

We got home and the pups and I cuddled on the floor, Grace passed out asleep, we watched a movie, all while it started to pour rain outside. What a way to end a Saturday!

This morning, she is much better, just some minor bottom lip puffiness, but mostly back to her normal self!

CGCA

We have been in a lull lately, not really doing much besides our usual everyday stuff. Work seems to be consuming all my time and I hate it. Not to mention, today is the second time in 2 weeks I have some kind of stomach bug. So I took off work but all I get to do is sit here and recover.

Luckily, for me, for the next couple weeks I get to do something with the pups. Our training facility is offering the AKC Community Canine test and since Riley and Grace both have their CGC, I would like to do this with them. The only catch is, it is a long while in between classes/test, so I am attempting to practice in class and take the test with both dogs together.

This past Saturday was our first practice class. It was a bit of a juggle at first, figuring out how I was going to practice with both. First, I tried switching them back and forth, one in the kennel, then switch. But that was too much of a hassle. Second, I had my friend, who works there, who was watching the class, hold one dog while I worked, and she could practice with the one she had. But she eventually had to go answer the phone.

What ended up working the best, was me working both Riley and Grace at the same time. I do it at home all the time. I guess I thought class would be different, I don't know. Grace knows the drill, we practice most of what the test requires weekly, in and out of class, and she tends to be more of a quite personality (most the time haha). Riley, is the more of the squirmy, social butterfly type, so it take a bit more work with him. He can do it all, it just take a bit more reminding.

I think our first class went really well and I look forward to the others!

We have two more practice classes then the test. I have no doubt Grace will pass and Riley I have high hopes for, with practice.