Play date #2 05/28/14

Hi pals, Puff Darby here.

Today my new friends Sadie and Hime came to spend the day with me again.

I sat outside and waited for them to arrive until momma told me to come back into the house because they weren't going to be here for another hour or so.

After what seemed like forever, they were here and ready to PLAY!  First, they were put outside because someone piddled on the floor and it wasn't me - BOL

                                    

They looked around and ...

Hime decided to piddle right by the gate..

Sadie, chose to go over by the big rock to do her business at.

 

After doing their business they were once again allowed inside and boy did they have LOTS of energy!  They ran all through the house and played and played.  Me, I stood around and watched them and once again, I was a perfect gentleman.  I let them play with MY stuffies and didn't even growl when Hime took stuffies away from me. 

 

Hime was playing with everything she could get her teeth on.

 

Sadie was emptying MY toy basket out and taking MY stuffies up on the big bed.

Here is Hime right after she took one of my favorite stuffies away from me.

 

I think the best part of the day was NAP time,

 

Here we are sharing the big bed.

 

Sadie is sleeping...

So is Hime...

 

Be quite so you don't wake Sadie up.

 Hime has been running through the house all day and NEEDS a nap.

                                             After nap time they were ready to go, AGAIN...

 

 Sadie and Hime's humans came and took them back home this afternoon - boy am I tired from watching them run and run.  I think I need another nap.

Puff Darby

 

What's been going on 05/26/14

Hi pals - Puff Darby here,

Some of you might have noticed that the name of Coco and my blog has been changed as is the photo that we had posted on there of both of us together.  Momma was having a hard time coming here now that Coco has joined other pals over at the Rainbow Bridge.  With one half of the "CocoRose Puff" missing it became necessary to change our blog to a more generic title that can be used for any family member.  The new title "Barking from New Mexico" fills this need.  We will never forget Coco Rose as she was one of a kind.  Her photos will remain as will all of the blog entries and Dogster pages that were done before her passing.  Thank you Finley for helping momma to change our blog title - she couldn't have done it without you.

Me, I am still having some "issues" with Coco's passing.  I am not too much into eating and kind of stand around moping.  Momma has been very worried about me so when she met a nice human lady who just happened to have two puppies, a play date was arranged for them to come over to our house and see if that didn't perk me up.  The pretty Maltese mix is named Sadie and the little Shih Tzu is Hime.  Both girls are real lookers and had lots of energy,  I was super nice to them and didn't growl or show my teeth.  Also, I let their human daddy pet me but momma was holding her breath the whole time and didn't venture far from me just in case I decided to sample some new figures - BOL.

Sadie and Hime spent several hours at our house and even took a nap with momma and me on the big bed.  Hime, the Shih Tzu reminded me of Coco because she took everyone's cookies - BOL, BOL.  She also climbed up on MY momma and decided she was going to sleep right on top of her.  I looked at her but being the nice guy I can be, I went down to the bottom of the bed and napped there and let Hime snuggle and give MY momma kisses.

Momma has been looking to adopt another Shih Tzu and almost applied for a pretty black Shih Tzu that was in foster care.  Momma had some concerns because this pup had bitten someone twice and was considered a "Risk".  Just when momma decided that she would give this pup a chance, someone else adopted her.  There are several Shih Tzu's up for adoption here in New Mexico, but most have come from breeders; have not been socialized or left out of their cages, plus they are over 7 years old.  The humans discussed this matter and decided none of them would be suitable for our family.  We are now in the process of adopting a Shih Tzu puppy from a wonderful breeder and should have one in August.  Momma is hoping for another black Shih Tzu, but we have to wait to see what the Momma Shih Tzu has. 

That's me sniffing Sadies behind - smelled pretty good too!

Here we all are checking out each other.

Sadie is smiling for the camera.

Nap time - Hime is getting ready to sleep by momma.  Sadie is still checking me out.  I'm going to sleep at the end of the bed.  And those toes to the left of the photo belong to my momma - BOL

I'm getting another sniff of Sadie's behind - BOL

 

This is Hime - She sure is a looker!

 

My new pals - Sadie and Hime.

 

It was nice to have some four legged visitors but I still miss Coco...

 

Puff Darby

I have a question 05/21/14

Hi friends - Marilynn here.

I would like to change the name of this blog - is there some way I can do that and retrain the prior posts and friends that I have?  I am still having a real hard time with Coco Rose's sudden illness and passing.  I would like to take Coco Rose's name off this blog and name it something more generic so it will be useable for any family members we have.

Thank you all for the lovely comments you left when Coco crossed to the Rainbow Bridge - they mean a lot to me.  Puffy isn't doing to well without Coco to show him what to do.  He is lost, not eating much and isn't playing with his stuffies.  We are on the look out for another BOSSY Shih Tzu for him (and me).

Good-Bye Coco Rose 05/14/14

Today, Coco Rose made her journey to the Rainbow Bridge.  I would like to say it was totally unexpected but when I woke up this morning deep down inside, I knew that Coco was very sick and needed to go back to the vet for re-examination.  She was breathing hard, listless and didn't want to go outside to do her business.  I carried her outside and tried to encourage her to walk around and potty, but she went back to the door and wanted back in.  Once inside, she went over to the kitchen water bowl, took a few licks and then went back to the big bedroom and proceeded to shiver.  I tried to give her a cookie but she didn't want it (Puffy ate hers along with his). 

I woke Howard, my husband and we bundled Coco in a blanket and took Simba's smaller bed for her to lay in on the trip to the vet.  Puffy came along because he has separation anxiety, but this time I made him ride in a small crate just in case he decided to piddle in the truck, again.

Puffy must have sensed that Coco was not feeling well because he did not do his normal whining.  Once at the vet's Coco was x-rayed and blood tests were performed.  No problems were noted on the x-rays, but three of Coco's kidney values were so high that the machine couldn't give the vet an accurate reading.

The vet stated that once the kidney values are unobtainable, there is no medicines or procedures that can reverse the damage and death is coming.  He did say he could insert an I.V. drip to flush out the toxins.  I asked him if this would give her more time and he said yes, several days to maybe a couple of weeks but that would be all.  He also said we could take her back home and let nature take it's course but could not assure me that Coco was not in pain.  I think having her shiver was a sign of pain, so I made the choice to have her put down in the vet's office.

Coco was brought back home: I dressed her in the coat I made for her, wrapped her in a nice soft baby blanket and put her in a burial box.  Before we close up the box, I put her favorite toy, Henrietta chicken, that Whitley and Finley gave her one Christmas in the box with her.  I was going to give her a nice supply of cookies but since we do live in a rural area with lots of wild animals, I decided against this.  She is probably standing at the pearly gate demanding to know where all the cookies are right this very minute. 

The big bedroom seems very empty with out Coco Rose hogging up the bed.  Puffy seems to be "lost" not knowing where his Coco Rose is although he did get to sniff her body before she was put inside her burial box. 

I can't talk about this anymore...my heart is breaking.  I wasn't prepared and it will take me some time to deal with it. 

I'll always love you Coco Rose!

Hey!  Where are all the cookies up here?

Marilynn

Coco update and home made ice cream 05/10/14

Hi pals, Puff Darby here...

Coco has been on her medication for 24 hours and there is no change noted thus far.  She is still shivering and hasn't been too active.  Right now she is upset because momma gave her another syringe of liquid medicine as directed by her vet.  Momma incorrectly stated on yesterday's blog that Coco had to take her medicine for two weeks: She only has to take it twice a day for ONE week so we are hoping improvements are seen soon.

 

Coco's medicine

Coco was trying to spit it out after momma gave her some - BOL

Now, on to much more fun things, it has been nice and sunny here, in fact it looks like summer so momma decided to make some home made strawberry ice cream.  She mashed the strawberries up and then mixed the heavy cream and half and half solutions as the recipe instructed.  Everything was then put into the ice cream maker and later in the day ICE CREAM!!!  Yummy, yummy, YUMMY!

 Strawberry ice cream...

Doesn't it look yummy?

 

Momma said it was :-)

 

Puff Darby

Oopsie 05/09/14

Hi pals, Puff Darby here...

This morning we were rudely awaken by daddy telling momma that she had to get up because the humans were going to town.  Turns out Coco and I were also going because Coco had a vet appointment because she has been observed shivering.  Daddy at first blamed momma for this saying Coco was shivering because she was cold since momma had shaved off most of her hair.  Momma feeling bad had made Coco a nice coat to wear and sleep in, but the shivering continued.  So, off to the vet we were BOTH hauled since I can't be left at home alone because I have panic attacks.

Anyhoodle, once momma got up and dresses she took us outside to do our business but we were both too excited and refused so we were put into the truck on the floor board behind the drivers seat.  Momma had let me take one of my stuffies with me but once the truck started moving I began to whine.  Yup, I wanted to go for a nice ride, but for some reason, I whined.

The ride to town takes over one hour and I whined, and whined.  When we were almost into Gallup, momma looked back to see how Coco and I were doing and discovered I had piddled all over.  Luckily, momma had bought daddy one of those Weather Tech mats that are advertised on TV, you know the ones where coffee is spilled but the carpet is protected.  Well the mat worked beautifully except Coco and I were NOT in our crates so the captured piddle was running all over the mat thus we got it on us too.  Coco being prissy, decided she didn't like being in the piddle and decided to lay on top of daddy's big map of New Mexico - BOL.  Me, I was walking all over in it and then putting my wet feetsie all over everything.

When we arrived at the vet's office, momma walked us around before taking us inside just in case either one of us still had a need to go potty.  Nope, neither of us did, but we were quite dirty from dirt and wet pee - BOL.

So, momma took us inside and daddy left to go to a car wash to clean the Weather Tech mat off.  Once inside, momma signed in and told the receptionist that she was taking us into the bathroom to try to clean me up.  The bathroom had a very small sink and momma proceeded to wash the piddle and dirt off my paws and then discovered - NO TOWELS - PAPER OR OTHERWISE - instead they only had a air blower that wasn't working.  By now, there was dirty water on and in the sink and walls - BOL, BOL.

Momma didn't know what to do so she put me on the floor and decided not to try to wash Coco off as she had escaped most of the piddle.  Since I was wet, water was being deposited on the floor but there really wasn't anything momma could do about it. 

We walked back into the waiting room and guess what momma found...a nice, fresh mound of doggy poop right by the reception's desk.  Momma asked for some paper towels to clean it up because she was pretty certain I had left the deposit right after we had entered the office but the nice lady at the desk told momma that she would have someone come clean it.  Momma kept on apologizing to everyone for the mess and extra work I had cause - BOL.

At this time, Coco was called into the exam room and daddy had returned so off we went so the vet could determine what was going on with Coco.  The vet concluded that it is probably a stomach type issue since she has also been having some loose stools, and prescribed some medication for Coco. 

After we left the vet's office, the humans briefly stopped at Wal Mart and got a few things and then we all headed home.  I should note that I did not whine this time but momma had put her jacket down on the floor board for Coco and I to lay on and it was nice and soft and I was pretty worn out from whining the whole way to town also.

When we got home, both Coco and I got a full bath to get any remaining piddle and dirt off of us and now we are going to take a nap.

Puffy