update

Teagan has been taking her Clavamox antibiotic for almost a week now and there is no longer hardness on her belly around her boo-boo. So I think things are going well. The sore is healing and she leaves it alone. So that's the good news.

The bad news is that Teagan's resource guarding is escalating and my mom has become scared for Keeley's safety. Teagan always did this food guarding thing since I got her but she only does it to Keeley. I can take anything away from her and she doesn't care one bit, but if Keeley even looks at her from across the room she'll go psycho killer on him.

I supervise their breakfasts and mornings are the most peaceful. Their dinners they eat in their crates so that's not a problem either. It's when they have treats that it happens most often. If Teagan finishes a treat before Keeley is finished, she takes the rest of his away and eats it herself. But if Keeley finishes before Teagan and he even just looks at her, then she goes insane.

This week it started happening for apparently no reason at all. Neither one has a treat but for some reason it's like Teagan gets it in her head that he's got something and she just goes crazy. I've had to separate them several times. I don't know what to do so I'm going to have to ask Keeley's SATS trainer for some advice.

On a different topic, Keeley is super ripe! Boy he's a stinky dog! He was just bathed 2 weeks ago, but he's already really stinky and dirty too. The vet says to only bathe him every 6 weeks or so, but everything starts to stink around here in the meantime. Do any of you DWBs have some advice? Do you have a stinky dog too? What do you do to make them not smell so offensive? Plus, when I pet him and then wash my hands, the water is all brown. I don't know how he manages to get so filthy so fast!

And last but not least, my aunt and uncle gave me a new digital camera. Woohoo! This morning we tested it out at Minooka. Here are some of our pictures:

Teagan's Boo-boo

On Thursday I was petting Teagan's belly, as I do most mornings, when I felt a weird lump. I looked at her belly and didn't see anything out of the ordinary so I figured it was just the scar from when she was spayed at such a young age. On Friday, the lump felt bigger and I started to become concerned. But I'm still unemployed and since Teagan was acting perfectly normal, I decided to ignore it in the hopes that it would go away on its own.
No luck. On Saturday it was bigger still and I considered calling the vet for advice but ultimately didn't. Then on Sunday, as Teagan was getting loaded into the car to head to Minooka, I saw that the lump had changed greatly. It now looked like a big blister or boil.
The trip to Minooka was great and Teagan took a long nap when she got home. When she awoke, I noticed that she was licking herself more than usual. I looked and of course the lump had burst and the sore was all bloody and puss. I cleaned the wound as best I could and bandaged her up.I think she looked like a little sumo wrestler.
First thing this morning we went to see Dr. Katie. Teagan's boo-boo got a thorough cleaning and she was given some antibiotics to prevent it from getting infected. Teagan really wanted to lick her sore so she ended up in one of those Elizabethan collars.
Poor Teagan. It's all fun and games until someone ends up in a cone.
She didn't like that thing one bit. In the movie UP, the dogs refer to it as the "cone of shame". I think that's a fitting name for it since Teagan looked pretty ashamed when she was wearing it.
When we got home, I took the Elizabethan collar off since Teagan didn't seem to know how to walk or lay down with it on. I put her little sumo wrap on again since that seems to do the trick. For the most part she leaves it alone but I'll have to keep watching her all day.
The unfortunate thing is that we still don't know what's wrong with her. We're trying antibiotics first since that's the least invasive thing to do. The vet said it could be a foreign object got under her skin some how, some weird reaction, or something inside her causing the hardness and the boil. I asked if it could be a bee sting because Teagan is a bee hunter. The vet said that yeah, it could be a bad reaction to a sting but we just don't know.
So for now we'll see how the antibiotics work. The good news is that Teagan is acting perfectly normal so it doesn't seem to be causing her any pain. I hope she doesn't end up requiring surgery.

A Fine Fall Day At Minooka

This afternoon we took a trip to Minooka. When Teagan was younger we always went into the small dog area because she needed socialization but was scared of any dog that was bigger than her.
She's still timid around dogs that are bigger than her and she always sticks close to me at the dog park. But overall, she's doing much better with other dogs so now we go into the big dog area.
Keeley just loves going to Minooka. He starts whining in the car as soon as we get close to the park.
I hate standing around and not doing anything at the dog park. When we go to Minooka now, the dogs and I walk around the perimeter several times. For me it makes the time go by a lot faster. And it's a good way to make sure my dogs are moving the whole time instead of just standing around sniffing butts.
Doggie daycare must be paying off because now Teagan is more able to make friends with other dogs.
It makes me so happy when I see she's made a friend.
Still most of the time she's totally focused on Keeley.
I take the dogs on a little path through some trees and when we come out into the field, then I tell them to "find mama". They are so happy when they spot their grandma and they go running to her.
I'm very pleased when they come when I call them.
Some how they can run and play bitey face at the same time.
Check out that ear action!
It's been about 40 minutes and Keeley is looking tired. It must be time to go home. The dogs are sleeping here in the computer room with me while I'm blogging now. This was a great trip to Minooka.