Ear Infections

Wow, has it been a whole week sense I've written in this blog. Well I've been busy to say the least! The spousal unit had surgery,work is piling up, and Lucy has an ear infection. How's that for a start?

Today's topic is ear infections and Boxers. Lucy is on her second ear infection in the last 3 months. I found out recently that Boxers are very prone to yeast infections in their ears, especially "White Boxers" with their light colored skin (pink to be exact).

The spousal unit, my wife Terri, was discussing this topic with my daughter who happens to be an ex-Vet Tech about the recurrence of the ear infections. What we found out was White Boxers, who usually have some type of difficulty with either their earring or their eye site, are very susceptible to yeast infections in their ears. Most Vets recommend that you wash their ears out every other week or so to prevent infections. This was a total surprise to me! After years of dog ownership, mostly Golden Retrievers, I felt totally stupid!!! I had no idea, and the Vet never told me that I needed to clean my dogs ears that frequently.

There is a solution that that you can buy from your dog's Vet that will totally prevent the occurrence of ear yeast infection. If I had only known that I needed to perform this action on a frequently recurring basis, I would have fulfilled my obligation! Now I'm having to treat her problem, which occurs mostly in the right ear with "Remicin Ointment". "Remicin" can only be obtained from a Vet. It contains gentamicin sulfate which is a sulfa drug. It's amazing how it keeps Lucy from scratching at her ears and it works really fast. The next step is to take her back into the Vet for a proper ear cleaning.

So what's the story here, I'm not sure? All I know now is my favorite critter in the whole world needs to have her ears cleaned every other week! A lesson learned and one that I would like to pass on to other fans of the Boxer Dog, especially the White Boxer. Best of luck to you with your favorite critter...

What a crazy couple of weeks…

What do you do with a dog that is highly active and someone gets ill in the family? Well here’s our story on the topic.

About 10 days ago Terri, my wife, gives me a call and asks me to meet her up at the emergency room at the hospital. She was having some pain in her right side and thought it might be an appendicitis problem? Well it turns out that the problem is something else but it will require surgery to correct.

It took a few days to get the surgery scheduled, so Terri sat me down and worked out a schedule where I could be supportive to her and also take care of our critter Lucy. Terri and I are kind of on an island, dependent upon one another due to the fact that our family is spread out all over the United States and no one but “us” in Memphis. The schedule was arranged to allow me to support her needs as well as Lucy’s schedule of events.

We began our morning of the surgery by getting up early in order to take care of Lucy. She and I even made our morning walk together while Terri put the last minute items together to go to the hospital. Our show time at the hospital was scheduled for 10:30AM with the actual surgery to take place at 12:00PM. The operation actually took about 45 minutes with the recovery room time of approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Once Terri came into the room that she would be spending the night, I ensured that she was ok and comfortable then she directed me to go home and take care of Lucy. Lucy met me at the back door with gratitude. She was bit behind in her daily schedule and needed some outdoor time and a treat. Which I accommodated! Then we spent a little time together and I was back off to the hospital to take care of Terri again.

Upon my arrival back at the hospital I found Terri to be ok but heavily sedated with pain medication. I was going to spend the night at the hospital with her but she insisted that go home and take care of things there and let her get some rest. Besides she said, “What are you going to do here, watch me sleep”? So I spent about 3hours with her and then I went back home and did the rest of the items she had scheduled for me to do and spent some time with Lucy.

Ok, so what’s the moral of the story Bob? I guess it goes something like this! Responsibility can be met with the proper schedule. Lucy is part of our family and our responsibility, if I had not been able to perform the tasks required to meet all the needs of our family (Lucy included), I would have to have come up with a different plan, one that would have required us to board Lucy in order for her to get the care and attention that she needs. Bottom line, take care of your responsibilities…

Why would someone get a dog that they don't really want?

I was reading an interesting article the other day in a Charles Schwab newsletter and it hit me like a ton of bricks. The article was stating that "35% of all investors said that emotions influenced their investment decisions. But recent brain scanning reveals that emotions are actively triggered in decisions involving risk and reward, indicating a lack of self-awareness that may prevent investors from reaching their investment goals." My ah-ha moment came to me when I was up on the local adopt a pet site and saw so many homeless animals. People are buying dogs and cats based on emotion without thinking the process through!

Here's how it works- The human brain can be broken down into two parts when it comes to acquiring new things or taking a risk such as a new puppy or kitten. The two parts of the psyche are referred to as the "Reflexive" and "Reflective" brains. Our inner brain (Reflexive) reacts instinctively and emotionally while our outer brain (Reflective) manages our reasoning and our ability to comprehend what we are truly doing. Have you ever gotten scared and reacted to some stimulus? If you did, what happened was emotional and reactive I'm sure. This is your survival mode (Reflexive brain) which is also the part of the brain that addictive behaviors are stored. We achieve great gratification by satisfying the Reflexive brain.

I believe this is why people get animals that they really don't want or need. They get caught up in the emotion of the moment and don't take the time to reflect on what dog or cat ownership is really about or requires. I'd like to take a survey on how many folks have acquired an animal that they ended up cutting loose or turning over to a shelter because they didn't think through the process.

I guess the bottom line of this post is, if you are thinking about getting a new animal, you should really think through the process. Is this animal going to be an inside or outside critter? Who is going to be the primary care giver to the animal? What are the costs associated with owning this animal? Is this animal going to be an integral part of your family or is someone else going to manage it for you? If you don't think through the process before you get your new pet, I'll bet that there will be another homeless animal awaiting adoption in your area.

Please, think before you buy!

Some Reflection Time...

It's another rainy day in Memphis! Most of Tennessee is under about a foot of water today. It always rains here in Memphis during the "Memphis in May Festival." That's why a lot of the locals refer to it as the "Memphis in Mud Festival." For those of you who are not familiar with this event, it is a week long music fest that is put on once a year here in Memphis. A lot of great stuff goes on in the downtown area including many concerts from great acts from all over the globe and some of the best barbecue in world is cooked. But this is not what I wanted to write about today.

Last weekend was beautiful weather! The temp got into the 80's and Terri and I decided to take the Mini to the "British Car" gathering up on the north side of town in Millington area. We didn't take Lucy on the trip because we had just cleaned the Mini up for the show. But I wish we had.

At the show we viewed many great old British sports cars. A couple were models that Terri and I had once owned. My favorite two cars in the entire world were there- the 72' Triumph TR-6 and a 68' MGB. I've owned models of both of these cars in my youth. What a great day it was to see these cars again! Anyway, this is not what I wanted to write about either.

What I want to write about is something that I observed at the car show. I saw people there enjoying their day out in the sunshine. They brought their kids and some brought their dogs. One dog in particular made an impression on me. He was a "Bernese Mountain Dog" (I hope I spelled that right?), a cancer survivor and an adopted pet. His mate was also there, also of the same breed and also adopted.

What impressed me about the male,we'll call him "Sam", was that Sam had a leg amputated due to cancer! Now this is one big dog, and to be running around like he was, was most impressive! The missing leg did not slow him down one bit! He was happy and very approachable. Both he and his mate were two of the best behaved dogs I have seen in a long time. Great pets, that had been adopted and are happy and well.

Two cute boxer puppies were also at the show. Sam and his mate greeted them like they were long lost family members. Sam was so gentle with the young dogs. I couldn't help but be please with the nurturing behavior that I observed.

To wrap this up, I would just like to put in a plug for adoption of pets. Even though some animals may appear to have a handicap, with love and patience on your part they can live happy and healthy and provide you with the companionship that only a survivor like Sam can offer. It was truly a great experience for both Terri and I to meet this brave dog and his wonderful owner...

If you are thinking about a new pet, check out the adoption centers in your area. There many more great examples of wonderful dogs to be found.