79,977 Views And Labrador Retrievers, One SAD Story

79,977 is what the counter down @ the bottom right hand side says.  I can't remember if I started out with zero or 50 or what but I didn't put the counter on right away so it's all legit.  Of course I want to thank everyone who follows and everyone who comments and those who just lurk. (I do one of these sappy posts if I happen to notice every 10,000 views, I check it hourly don't stress about it.  There are lots of lurkers.  In fact last time I looked there were only about 100 steady repeat visitors. (yes I know these things)  BUT that means I've warped the minds of about 78,877 people right?  Anyway thanks, I used to do these posts all the time then I tried to go to wordpress and was getting more traffic here without updating hardly at all so I will continue to have both blogs for the time being and as far as I know keep this one forever or until blogger decides it hates me.  The other one is animalsthatgivepause.com  and there are a few articles on it in September through December that aren't on here.  In case anyone cares.  Or has actually read this far.

Anyway as I said before Labrador Retrievers are the most popular dog in America.  I had a Golden Lab, Mugsey, I know most of you know that but there might be some whom I haven't bored to death yet new people here so hush.  Here is his page.

And now Voila, I the great and powerful OZ, time to take the meds again  will show you pets from petfinder and LINKS OMG real LINKS you can click on.  You won't want to be here in the morning so enjoy me now, I forgot to fill up my thermos cuz hubby was sick and I was worried about him.  Me without coffee = something between a cross sow bear waking from hibernation and a lion being teased.  Seriously now, look @ these pictures and try to resist?

 

This is Beyla a young golden lab by the looks of her.  She does look like a girly Mugsey.  BEAUTIFUL isn't she.  Let me tell you labradors will take a place in your heart.  Beyla is available for adoption and is in Ardmore OK.   There are almost 20,000 labrador retrievers for adoption on petfinder.  Almost enough to go around?

This is Marilyn, so named because of her beautiful eyes.  Like Marilyn Monroe ya know?  She is in Wolfe City TX.

 

This puppy is about 6 weeks old and is in New Jersey.  I don't know the whole story but there are 6 puppies, you can see the others in the background.  They are from Puerto Rico.  They are terrier lab mixes.  Someone blinded the mother on purpose and threw her on the street where she became pregnant with this litter.  A horrible story but hopefully one with a happier ending for the puppies.

 

Misty Colored Memories Of The Way We Were

I'm really good @ coming up with catchy titles that have no actual bearing on my subject matter in any truly constructive way? In other words people aren't going to be looking for memories on the search engines to come up with a video of a bichon and a lab playing but....that's the way I roll.


BTW, I don't normally say or even think that's the way I roll, it just came out. Maybe I'm ill? This is sort of a tribute to Mugsey, I was looking for pictures of Dispatch and came across these. Sorry they are long.. enjoy.

Oh and I know I'm not supposed to let the bichon latch onto my arm growling but it's soooo much fun and I doubt he turns into killer dog but you never know. Plus he has been fixed and he has to get his jollies where he can.... don't cha think? My brother says the bichon thinks he's like dominating me and preparing to hump when he grabs me like that...I think bro is just trying to gross me out? Bro would love nothing better than to gross me out horribly. He will be 70 soon (he's old enough to be my dad) and he will NEVER GROW UP!! Maybe I should tell him he HAS to get a computer so he can see what nasty things I'm writing about him?

Life Goes On

Picture is when Mugsey was like 4 months old. If you are just reading this post you have to read the two previous to understand why I'm blogging about him, he passed away yesterday.

Ok, Dispatch is being so nice to me because he thinks I am sad he actually stood on his back legs and let me pick burrs off of his chest. This is not remarkable because he stood up so long he can probably walk 20 feet on his back legs, it's he LET me pick burrs. I am much better today. The waterworks have only caught me good twice and Dispatch cuddled with me the second time. He's not a face licker but if he was he would have licked my face.

I pulled weeds in the flower bed after I watered thoroughly and it was cool, you guessed it I found something that reminded me of Mugsey. (Besides the lighting and irrigation he ate of course) I had a few pieces of black plastic fencing that I put on the front flowerbed by the sidewalk. I know you are saying ewwwww, but it was really OK when covered with plants. Mugsey didn't like it there. I have LOTS of white plastic fence in the backyard which isn't a backyard and he never bothered it. Like 8 times as much as the few measly pieces in front of the house. Anyway I found the black plastic fencing, I'd forgotten I had it as I had laid it down behind the plants to hide it from him, I kept putting it back in flowerbed as fencing, I scolded him, told him no but there was something about it he couldn't resist so I finally gave up after two years. I would say we will have a puppy soon but I would feel so disloyal. It took 4 years for my husband to replace his last dog Bandit the Australian Shepherd who tried to make a bomb by the back door (he ate an oil container and part of a fertilizer sack, voila explosives) and ate the batteries out of solar lights. Unless you count Dispatch of course. We talked about puppies and dogs and breeds of dogs, we did know a Labrador Retriever who was mean and bit children, she was also left alone quite a bit, Mugsey would maybe injure a child by knocking them down and then licking them but NEVER biting them, he loved kids. Don't know if it's the raising that does it or the particular dog or a combination, sort of the nature vs. nurture debate all over again.

We've given up saying Mugsey was just a dog, after all we are getting his ashes to scatter over the farm. Waterworks on, Dispatch wants on my lap. Mugsey was a wimp who hid behind Dispatch most of the time but once he woofed @ a strange man in the middle of the night. After that I had no doubt he would @ least act like he was protecting me. That was just the end of May when he did that. As my husband keeps saying, he was just getting to be the dog we wanted and not a puppy. He amazed people by responding to finger snaps and hand signals, I don't consciously train them like this and it's not for big things but just if they need to pay attention to me or do something. People commented how well they behaved on leashes down in Louisiana, I was VERY proud of them then as they had just been on leashes a few times in the last two years. I could even walk without them getting tangled up most of the time.

The schnauzer from across the road came over tonight, she hasn't been over for months and months, I wonder if she is looking for Mugsey? They didn't play anymore but would each sit on their side of the road. I called the neighbor who owns the schnauzer to see if they knew anything or had seen anything when Mugsey got hit but they didn't.

Someone else is looking for Mugsey too.

And looking....

They had a system set up, Mugsey would come look in the window and Dispatch would whine till I let him in. I didn't think Dispatch was missing him till I noticed he was @ the window unless he was by me. I didn't get a picture of it but Fema my cousins dog who almost lives here was looking in the window or the glass door when I had the other one open. She's waiting too.


But life goes on. Stupid dog. Can you understand why I say stupid dog. I wasn't going to get attached, I HAD my dog. I'm really glad I walked Mugsey around the RV park so much in Louisiana though, I keep thinking about the time he headed for the woods when I had him off the leash in LA just like he was @ home and had heard something calling for him or maybe home was just past that fence and tree? It was weird. He came back but he never left me like that, he was always trailing or looking and making sure where I was. I know it's not true but it's almost like he heard the rainbow bridge calling him?

Back to earth and practical matters. A grey streak came from the glass table outside this morning. It was on the roof last night and I tried to get him down but he hissed @ me, there is a tree branch that he got ON the roof with and I said if he got on he can get off or he will get hungry and come to me, my husband told me to be careful getting on the ladder but I informed him I'd already cleaned the gutters, it was sweet of him though. I think the cat is meanies kitten but I have no idea where she's been keeping him. Evidently she's been feeding him well, he's fat with thick thick fur. He is also the spitting image of my cousins cat Nathan, hmmmmmmmm. He's back in the tree tonight, won't come down but he knows where the cat food is and I will tame him more tomorrow with some canned food. He's not yellow or a dog but it's funny how he just appeared yesterday after I got home. And Life Goes On.

My Labrador Mugsey

It has been over a month since I blogged @ all. I did comment on a few blogs but I've been busy to say the least and decided to give myself a little vacation. The last few days I didn't think I could write on here without breaking down again but I'm alone now and can wade through it. My birthday, my grandsons birthday, and his sisters birthday are all 3 days right in a row. We were celebrating them last Friday night @ my daughters house with lasagna and 3 kinds of birthday cake. My other daughter was here with her new puppy a yorkie/poo. I put Mugsey my golden lab outside when we left to go celebrate, he likes the air conditioning but he likes being outside playing too, I did consider leaving him inside with Dispatch but with the new puppy in the bedroom thought it might be too much, I really wish I'd left him in now. I know you know what's coming and I sound like I'm making an excuse but I've only seen him in the highway once and that was 2 years ago crossing to go see the neighbor dogs, he's never gotten even close since then to my knowledge. The highway is like 100 yards from our house, we have no fences and I've never seen Mugsey anywhere on the farm except @ the two houses and ponds when we go.

We got home Friday night and no Mugsey, he's sometimes down @ my cousins house in THEIR air conditioning or just being spoiled down there so I didn't think much of it. We watched a movie the kids had gotten for their birthday and I went to bed, still no Mugsey, I called and called and walked around the house, found a missing kitty but no dog. I laid down but couldn't sleep so two grandsons and I went driving and walking for awhile till after midnight. My cousins dog was outside so I knew Mugsey wasn't in there. Not much we could do till morning.

I got up before kids who were sleeping on the floor in the family room and my daughter was with me, Mugsey was outside by the car door and she was laughing @ him because we had been SO worried. He sat up but never got up. I have NO idea where he was or how he got to the house but her little dog seemed to have trailed him down the driveway later that day. I think he was in a fairly deep ditch right across from our driveway, we looked further on down the ditch but not in the very bottom of that one. I also think a delivery vehicle hit him in our driveway and drug him over there but I could be wrong, the vet assistant said he had been hit on a gravel road and our driveway is gravel. It makes no difference, he was rolled under a vehicle and the vet said it's a miracle he's in as good as he is and he made it back home in pain which breaks my heart because I didn't find him that night.

I fell apart, I admit it, this is my husbands dog but he's mine too. He's ate more lawn fixtures than you can count and insists the pump is NOT going to stay in the yard pond but he is only 2 years old. I called the vet and then called the emergency number, the vet said bring him over and we have normal office hours today, I'd forgotten and called the emergency number. We got him in the car, he didn't seem to be in any pain, just couldn't walk. We never thought about him biting because he was hurt which seems stupid now but we just got him on a blanket and slid him in the back seat. My grandson went with me, my daughter was going to go but I was able to drive and the two little kids were still there.

We got to the vets and it probably took an hour before they came and got him out of the car, they did come and look @ him and see he was fine, not in shock and not writhing in pain, just tired and not walking. We waited, I tried not to cry, I NEVER go anywhere without a little eye makeup on but I knew it was pointless to even try to put it on till yesterday. The vet assistant finally came out and told us they thought his hip bone had sort of separated, not fully but they thought that was causing him pain and not to walk and we could go home and he would be fine soon. They would do further x-rays and call if they found anything else but he needed to be @ the vets over the weekend.

I know this is long but it's how I tell a story. My husband was fine, called several times though. It really helped having the kids @ the house (the picture above is a wienie roast about a month ago, notice Mugsey right in the middle) but then there was other things happening which just added to the bad things, lets just say it wasn't a good birthday weekend. The vet called later in the day, I didn't think he would call so late and I'd convinced myself he wasn't going to call with bad news. Mugsey had twisted his spine and that's why he couldn't walk, they weren't even sure the hip was separated. NOTHING was broken. His spinal cord is intact, the vertebrae show they slipped around a bit and it was swelling there. Thus he couldn't walk. The vet said prednisone and rest till Monday and we would see. If it continues to swell where his spine was twisted it will eventually paralyze him is my understanding.

Monday the swelling hadn't gone down and had gotten a little worse, his spinal cord is still fine, he has reflexes and wags his tail but just can't use his hind legs. The vet said give him a couple more days, he's doesn't seem to be in pain and it will either get better or worse and we might try acupuncture, surgery is possible but not a good alternative or really an alternative, he would probably still be crippled. So we are waiting for Thursday, the vet was supposed to call the accupuncturist to see if she thought she could help. He is too big a dog for me to carry all the time, he has to be able to walk and run or he won't be happy.

Why did I choose to write this now? I called the veterinary clinic while ago when it started thundering to tell them Mugsey is afraid of storms and they needed to go reassure him and tell him it was a party, he is better if you do that, I was having him chase balls and saying it was party time when it thundered, Victoria Stilwell is right it does get their mind off of the storm and makes it a happy time instead of stressful. BTW while we were in Louisiana the dogs and I were addicted to animal planet. I took Mugsey for walks around the RV park so many times I got the beginning of shin splints.

I have gotten almost all the way through this without crying but a few times. I need to be able to talk about this without breaking down in public which is quite embarrassing and isn't doing the dog any good. I never realized how fond of Mugsey I was, I was always griping about him but I was the one who raised him and took care of him and gave him baths (most of them, my daughter gave him the last one). Dispatch is OK, the other puppy was here and distracted him from missing Mugsey since the puppies favorite pastime was trying to hang off of Dispatches ears by his teeth, kept him distracted. He does seem to be looking for Mugsey when we go outside though and he knows when mama is upset and follows me like velcro.

I have no great moral out of this experience other than to hug your pet, toss a ball for your dog tonight or give it an extra pat on the head. And hope for good news Thursday. This is a picture of him in Louisiana @ the RV park. Sorry it's so blurry but another phone picture. He had FINALLY learned when we stopped on a trip and got out and I said go potty he was supposed to.... well go potty.

A Video And Two Animal Links

This is Mugsey and Dispatch howling in our camper, Mugsey was a puppy this was 2 years ago, hard to believe. Notice the no hair look on Dispatches tail from being pulled around by Mugsey all the time. Thank goodness it grew back. I can do another video like this @ any given moment, we got them to howl the other night after pizza and wine. Pizza and wine and dogs howling @ the squeaky toy, what good Midwestern fun!?

This next site may be a little too off the wall for some but I found it hilarious. My niece emailed me the link today, she also enquired about UFOs in Warrenburg MO and Alligators in the Lake of the Ozarks, what does she think we live in a nut house? Whoever heard of such things? BTW I've seen some UFOs but the presence of an airbase nearby explains quite a bit I think.
Anyway here's the link to the hilarious quasi news site.
Be prepared to spend a little time there if you have my sick sense of humor.

And this is a funny funny blog. I wish I'd written it. I don't know why Rubinman hasn't posted lately but I wish he would. I can't look @ Dispatch sometimes without thinking he's talking like Rubiman, I am wolf, fierce wolf warrior, I have superdog power,I can fly.......Well just go read and you will see what I mean.
Rubinman's blog

Three Dog Stories And A Raccoon Tale

Jeter a Great Pyrenees rescue dog saved his family from a fire but died himself when he reentered the family home in Ohio.
Read about it here.

In Illinois a mixed breed dog named Redbelly found a newborn infant and alerted his master thus saving the baby's life. The baby had been left outside in the rain, the mother is facing charges but the baby is safe.
Details here.

In Guangzhou China, dog owners will be asked to get rid of all but one of their dogs on July 1. This policy is already in effect in other Chinese cities.
You can read about it here. Chinese dog owners are obviously upset and hope the policy is not strictly enforced.

In Tulsa Oklahoma a soda machine dispensed more than pop. Two baby raccoons were inside, a skunk whisperer (a new employment opportunity if I ever heard of one, sorry couldn't resist) was utilized as well as a vending machine employee to rescue the animals who will be released into the wild after rehabilitation.
Link here.


Here in Missouri? My son came down with his girlfriend. My bichon is not my sons best friend, partly because he likes to tease him, not mean, they play with each other. After a supper of pizza and wine I am going to mow some more while it's not raining. The picture? It's Dispatch in my granddaughters tutu that I made her for her first halloween. Dispatch wasn't impressed with it @ all. For some reason I got the idea to dress him in it last year. BTW I had on no makeup. LOL Notice Mugsey in the background hoping I don't get the idea the Labrador needs to wear a tutu also?

We Would Die If Mama Leaves?

Mama was loading stuff in Daddies truck, this is me Dispatch talking, the white one. It worries us when she does that because sometime she could forget to get out of the truck and leave with Daddy. Well this time it did happen? They got in the pickup and left without us but they came back after about 10 minutes. When Daddy leaves it's for a long time, many sleeps, 5 or 6 sometimes. If mama left who would feed and water us? Not to mention pet us and be there @ night to sleep with and all the essential things she does like listen when we find something interesting like the gray cat is trying to eat the cat food again. It's our cat mama says but we don't believe her. Plus the cats would probably start ruling the world if we didn't get out once and awhile to remind them we are the true rulers and protectors of the lawn @ least. Just cuz they kill snakes and mice and moles and birds proves nothing, oh and rabbits, if they would hold still we would kill them too because we are DOGS! Anyway when they got back we were sitting by the door with our noses plastered against it making sure she didn't forget and leave with Daddy and if she did she remembered US!! She didn't leave with him in the big truck but you never know. Mama told Daddy oh look when she got back, she meant us looking so worried, I could hear her because I have supersonic hearing being a bichon ya know? She had to come back in the house to get the camera cuz Daddy told her she needed a picture of that, he pretends he's macho but he's more of a pushover than Mama. Daddy bet her she couldn't get out the door without us but she did, we listen when she gets that stern voice, it's better that we listen. Anyway all is fine now. We are full and have fresh water and mama is with us.
Daddy said there was a terrier someone dumped in a town not far from here, mama is going to email the animal shelter people down there and tell them about him. Daddy said he fed him and almost brought him home. Mama asked for another bichon, Daddy said NO. Oh well, I'm all the dog anyone could want but I miss Mugsey if he's outside?

Mugsey Marley and Me Look Alike

Hi, my name is Mugsey, my mama is typing this for me, my paws are much too big. This is my baby picture. Mama says I looked so much like Marley it wasn't even funny, they hadn't made the movie yet, this was in the spring of 2007. Now everyone says I'm a Marley lookalike or look alike however you want to say it. This picture was taken about 5 minutes after she brought me in the door. Daddy said something about a yellow puppy although he kept telling mama they couldn't have another dog, especially living in a camper cleaning up after Katrina. Somehow Daddy relaxed his rules for me? There's a commercial on about some of these mugs may have bugs but there aint no bugs on me. Mama said I looked like the dog on the commercial so that was my name, Mugsey. Makes me sound rather tough don't ya think?
I have a "big" brother, his name is Dispatch, here he is on the bed, I think he's just about the best thing besides bones. He started to play with me a couple weeks after I came to live with them. The first two weeks were rough though. See Dispatch still has all his tail hair?

Dispatch liked to play pulley pulley with me, I soon learned to rip all the toys to shreds. Mama won't let me have any more except one expensive stuffed dog that I haven't destroyed because it's too well made. The face is gone though? I'll get it chewed up soon and then she will have to buy new ones. BTW there's a video of me howling with Dispatch about this age if you want to click on the videos on the right? You have to look through the other videos to get to it though.

Mama was cleaning out a camper they had in storage on a horse farm for one of my human brothers who worked for my Daddy. Dispatch told me he could make the horse eat me. It didn't but I wasn't taking any chances.
Soon after this we came back to Missouri, I was born in Mississippi under a storage container. Daddy said they rescued me. Mama reminds him I was in the air conditioned house with the kids when they "rescued" me. My doggie mama was a golden retriever and my doggie daddy was a huge black Labrador. I got my size more from my doggie mama but I'm still trying to grow! When we came back to Missouri we lived on something called a farm and I could go without a leash (what a relief) and there was another old grouchy dog named Skeeter. She's now one of my best friends but boy was she grouchy @ first. As you can see by the picture below I got most of Dispatches tail hair pulled out by early fall. It was such a fun handle, I'd grab him by it and he would growl and mama would yell, sometimes I even tried to pull him by it but Dispach is a fierce warrior under that fluffy white hair. We were playing here, Dispatch does something called a Bichon Blitz but I think he just goes nuts and thinks he's faster than me?

Mama said I was too big for Dispatch's bed and put it up on a table so I couldn't get it because I sort of liked to chew it too. Daddy came home and I had to show him I could still fit in the bed. I don't know what Mama is talking about sometimes?
All of this required I sleep. Mama doesn't like me sleeping in this chair much, I have a chair in the family room I can sleep in but she gets really loud when I take my naps in the living room?

I tried to shield Dispatch when Mama dressed him up in a tutu from Sara my human niece, she tastes good most of the time when I lick her. Anyway mama remembered the tutu she had made for Sara's first Halloween and dressed poor Dispatch in it. I was a little jealous but I really didn't want my own tutu.


Later I learned about ice and how it was wise just to lay down and not try to walk sometimes. I was tired after all this and had to sleep some more.



I learned to watch for Daddy when he was outside. See how I am camouflaged in the jungle tree? Mama says pay no attention to the unfinished window sill, she is just glad to have a wall and have sheet rock up, this used to be a garage door before I came around Dispatch said.I am guarding continuously, sometime I must hide if the danger gets too close though. Mama says I'm not nearly as dumb as she thought I was. I had an accident in the house when Mama was really tired and didn't let me outside in the middle of the night. She didn't find it till she had let me out the next morning but I knew she would be mad so I tried to go live with my best friend Fema who lives down the hill, Fema's mama is my mamas best friend and Fema is a miniature schnauzer, sometimes the schnauzer across the road comes to visit too and we all play in the front lawn. Nothing will attack then because of all 5 fierce dogs guarding the place huh?

All of this guarding and talking about it has made me tired, I have to sleep again.
I have found out that a warm human is the best thing to sleep by on a lazy Sunday morning, this is Jacob my human nephew, Jacob is good to me and feeds me human food too. We are watching a dog show on PBS, well Jacob and Dispatch are, I'm trying to catch a few zzzz's which doesn't sound like a bad idea. See Dispatch's tail hair did grow back!! I'm really not a bad dog.

Kosovo Seargeants Give Their Boys Surprise Puppies

Here's the link.

The picture above is the two puppies before the family got there.

A husband and wife who are Sergeants in the National Guard recently returned from Kosovo. The father saw a litter of 8 lab puppies on petfinder @ the Stover Animal Shelter and emailed them about keeping two of the puppies for their boys, who are 10, 6, and 5. The boys had NO idea what was going on when they went to Stover. It's all in the article. This animal shelter is my pet charity, pun intended. Carol Sue Wiegel mentioned in the article is the local real estate agent and her primary volunteer is one of my oldest friends, Brenda Cook, she emailed this to me:

About 2 months ago a army guy e-mailed us from Kosovo. He had seen our pets on petfinder, and was interested in some lab pups we had ( 8 ) of them. He has 3 little boys and had promised them a dog when he returned, he really wanted 2 of them but wanted us to keep 2 for him for 2 months until he returned. Well of course we did and he got home last Tuesday, and came for the pups this Monday, his boys new nothing about this, it was a surprise for them. He brought his family down and you should of seen the look on those kids faces they are 10, 7 and 5, they went crazy!! they named thier dogs Scarlett and Duke. The Sedalia paper was there and so was KRCG tv Jefferson City. Great Press and did a good thing too!

I LOVE stories like this.

Adopt a Boxer

You can find pets for adoption on moads4u or on the Stover Animal Control Website.
This is Miller, he is a boxer/lab mix with that special look that made me take my yellow puppy home when the last thing I thought I needed was a baby lab. Miller is beyond part of his puppy days but he still has that I wanna play look about him. Check him out or the other animals @ the websites.


More about Miller:
Nov. 5, Miller was an owner surrender. He does well on leash and gets along with everyone. He is partly house broken but needs work. The girl at the vet office said he never once made a mess in his run for the 24 hours he was there. He could not wait to get outdoors to go when I picked him up. His eyes have such a great expression. Adoption $75.00