Happy Dance dedicated to Jake at Golden Pines

Video credits: Devo dancing, trotting & burping, Cosmo bouncing and Sunny taking it all in.

Jake is an old Golden just rescued by the wonderful people at Golden Pines.

Stop by and paw Jake a woof. He's had a hard life and deserves the best.

We are so happy he can spend the winter of his life at Golden Pines

Life at Golden Pines

Easton is off the DL - for now

Easton has been on the DL (disabled list) for almost 4 months now. After being blind sided by an illegal block to the back by a misguided mix-breed linebacker, much to his disappointment, Easton has not participated in any full contact running and fetching since the incident. Until yesterday! I'm happy to report he has returned to his "just adopted" retrieving condition with an extra dose of enthusiasm.

We headed to our secret off-leash area, 4 blocks from home, hoping no one was there so we could conduct a controlled work-out for the NFL scouts. Golf ball retrieving for about 15 minutes went very well. His enthusiasm was sky high and his running looked good. Eventually we had company sharing the field. Thank goodness it was a responsible owner and her sweet, balanced dog. Holly is a 5 year old Labradoodle who is a wonderful playing companion for Easton. Kathy, Holly's Mum, brought the chuck-it and a tennis ball. That's all it took to wear Easton out. He went full bore for about 20 minutes, but then I had to cut him off. We took a long, slow cool-off walk home. Easton was one tired, but satisfied boy. 

I know how much he misses playing. He has the play drive of Devo, but has not been in any shape to ask his body to do the things his enthusiasm demands. We'll continue to walk every day and are still going to swim therapy every couple of weeks. We brought the Costco dog bed up from the garage hoping he would use it after his workout. As you can see from the pictures, he took full advantage of the opportunity to crash in style. Both Cosmo and Devo would sleep together on this bed. It's the perfect size for one Big Red! He never showed much interest in it before, but I think he's coming around.

Leavenworth 2011 - Garden Haus

We had such a great time last year in Leavenworth, WA <see where it is> - It was worth an encore. This year we were right in the middle of October Fest! For an imitation Bavarian town, this is a big deal. Weekdays are much tamer than the weekends, but it's always lively this time of year. A Fall Northwest storm came through and kept the weather ugly until the afternoon of the third day. Caught up on our reading and enjoyed our time with Easton. This was his first long car trip and being away from home. He was a very good boy with only one surprise. Off leash on our first walk, he bolted down to the Wenatchee river and would not stop. I wasn't too worried because the current is not swift and we were in the park with many inlets used for swimming. When I caught up with him, he was just standing in two feet of water, still as a statue, looking at me. He was visiting a place in his mind that he has been before. It was like Easton was in a trance. He would not come when I call to him, nor did he even stir. Finally when I held the leash up, he snapped out of it and splish-splashed out of the water, wagging his tail, ready to continue his walk.

He found a tennis ball and officially adopted it. I think its name is Wilson.
BTW, keeping our paws crossed for my pal Bubba at Golden Pines.

We rented this cool one bedroom house right in town.
Very nice - highly recommended + this particular property is pet friendly.

Front yard - the sun finally came out the third day.

The hot tub got a lot of use, especially on those cool, rainy days.

The back side of Garden Hause - lots of off-street parking.
Quite valuable during Octoberfest in Leavenworth.

Last year when we took this trip, Lady was with us. We took a picture of her in the town gazebo. Here is Lady from 2010 and Easton from 2011. I've said it many times: they would have been a great pair. "SIGH"

Lady September 2010

Easton October 2011

There are always "hits and misses" when ever you visit a place known for attracting tourists. Leavenworth is no exception. THE HITS: ~ we discovered one new (to us) place worth mentioning: King Ludwig, a traditional German restaurant and beer hall! Surprisingly good food and the staff was excellent. ~ Spent many lunches and snack times at the Munchen Haus - outdoor dining, dog friendly and wonderful sausages, German potato salad and kraut. ~ Our friend Klaus <Klaus and Lady> we met last year may be losing his lease. What a shame. He is such a nice man and knows how to make a quality espresso. ~ Our favorite breakfast place, Renaissance Cafe was still good. We had breakfast there every morning. ~ The Accidental Bavarian website was were we found our Garden Hause. It's still the best website for learning what's up in Leavenworth. ~ Thumbs up for Rudloof's Pizza. Excellent salad, friendly staff and decent pizza (OK, I'm a pizza snob, but for a small town joint, a fine effort).

The MISSES: Just one this trip, Tumwater Inn. The food was not good. Quaint bar, nice staff, but local entertainers were there playing guitars in the evening. Since they were locals, a group of their friends were sitting at the front tables and it was obvious anyone else in attendance was intruding. Kind of weird.

So, this is two years in a row for Leavenworth. It is really a wonderful place. I think next year we may pick somewhere different. I'm voting for Portland. We spent some time there last Christmas and loved it, despite the horrible weather. Many friends and my brother live down there, so we always have places to go and people to visit.

Sorry I have been so sparse with my blog postings the last 6 months. I'm hoping to be more prolific very soon. Best to all.

Can I play through?

Easton is getting around pretty well these days. We are slowly reintroducing his toys as his leg gets stronger and more reliable every week. The retrieving dummy is pretty low key compared to a tennis ball, so he gets to carry that around whenever he wants. However, when I come home in the evening, he makes sure that any golf balls that are hit into the net are properly retrieved, slobbered on and mayhem ensues as he insists on collecting them all. Good thing I have a whole bucket full of practice balls. I laugh and laugh at his antics. He is so serious about performing what he thinks is his job. He sure has a good time!

As you can see, his coat is starting to grow out and fill in. He is turning into one very handsome boy. Strong, loyal and as it turns out, very obedient! I've let him off leash a couple of times in the last two weeks with great results.He runs around and when he wanders a little too far, I get the head snap, back to my call and he come a runnin'. I haven't worked with him that much because he has been on "light duty", so his progress is amazing. He is such a good boy.

Honoring those who have fallen and the first responders

Never in the history of the United States had dogs been called upon to serve humans like they were during the devastation of the 9/11 attacks.

Ten Years.......

Sure, come on in ....

An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard. I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of. He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head; he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.

An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out..

The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks.

Curious I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.'

The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: 'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 He's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?' 

Cleared for Takeoff

Wet Dog = Happy Dog

A few pictures of Easton's latest SplashDog session. I can see a difference in his dry land strength and stamina. Thanks to Michael for these nice images. Lighting wasn't the greatest, but they turned out fine.

Ready, set, SPLASH

It's hard to tell, but Easton is working very
hard here swimming against a strong current.
He's determined to take the ball from my hand. 

This hard work leaves a very happy, but tired boy.
He has a good hard nap afterwards!

Anticipation - splash time again

After several weeks of taking it easy, Easton gets to swim tomorrow at Splash Dog, here in Edmonds, WA. He continues to make good progress resting and healing his injured right leg. I can see some frustration lately as he grows stronger and more restless. I've encouraged a few rough-house sessions where he is on the floor, but he wants to escalate it to a full-blown zoomie or fetch game. Hold on Big Red, we'll get to that soon.

Here Dad, throw THIS for me!

From his last Splash Dog session

Rudi

Our friends at Golden Pines have lost a long time resident and pack leader.

Read about Rudi's story HERE.

Happy Birthday Sugar

Special Barkday wishes for the Queen of Golden Woofs - Sugar.
Easton sends his very best. Hope you have many, many more.

It's Sugar Free!! We want you eating cake, not IN the cake!

Happy Birthday Sugar - how can you resist - BOL

Stop by and say HI to our friend Sugar

WOW factor off the charts!

Big Red says "gimme that"

Easton takes advantage of leverage and his need for play!
He always has a good time.

Gates and "The Face"

Easton continues to move a little better every day. We give him short controlled walks and no running or jumping. He has this adorable habit of following our every move, which means up and down four flights of stairs 20-30 times a day. Now its only 3 or 4 times a day. These very functional doggy gates are wonderful. I do have to look at "The Face" several times a day. Don't know if I'll ever be immune, but I must stick with the plan.

He does come up to the bedroom for a good nights sleep. Dreaming and howling at imaginary fireworks, peddlers and/or mastodons. Yes, I said HOWLING. It scares the crap out of me at 2AM. I get up and pet him to see if he's OK, but he just wags his tail and turns over to dream again. "Geez Dad, quit waking me up". Sorry bud, I thought the alarm went off!

As you can see, Lady is watching over Easton, even when he wants to GO. It's OK Big Red, I'm just going to the garage for a minute.....really!

Goldens are such show-offs

A Portuguese production - the song is perfect, even though I can't understand the lyrics.

I think I saw this once at Studio 54 in 1986

Yep, this is COOL

Easton update: feeling better, however....

The word came from our Vet late this week that "Easton needs surgery" to repair his right-rear ACL. We talked about the pros and cons of the different surgical options/techniques. The Vet clinic uses a visiting surgeon who has excellent results with (what I call) The fishing tackle technique. During Easton's most recent examination, our Vet encouraged us to research completely the subject of ACL injuries in dogs via the reams of information and opinions offered on the Internet. Here are a collection of interesting clinical descriptions and well thought out opinions on the subject.

Is surgery really necessary?
Drs Foster and Smith chime in
Video news report - surprisingly well done

First let me say; our Vet highly recommends the fishing tackle technique which the surgeon they use has had tremendous luck with over the many years they have been working together, servicing the needs of the clinic's patients. Our Vet has accumulated a massive amount of "trust capital" with us; caring for Cosmo, Devo, Lady and now Easton. We trust her implicitly. If and when Easton has surgery, her recommendation will be our course of action.

However, as I talked about in the previous post, Easton has been resting and only gets very focused and specific exercise (on-leash from the time he leaves the house, out the back avoiding stairs for shorter walks). This is to allow Easton a chance to heal and to get use to a more sedentary life, free of the impact and risks that originally injured him. We have two doggy gates on order to permanently block/control access to both sets of stairs. He just can't sprint up and down the stairs following our every move.

The good news is that he appears to have recovered to the point that he is not limping at all and walks exactly like he did the day we brought him home!! He likes to lead the way; and atypical of my normal dog walking disciplines, I let him! He has always occasionally scraped the tops of his right paw toenails as we walk. It is no better or no worse than on April 14th (our first walk together).

Bottom line: I don't want to put him under the knife unless his quality of life is severely threatened. We'll continue to watch him closely and will create an environment for him so that chances of further aggravation to his knee is as close to zero as humanly possible.

The Easton KNEE !

I feel like this every time I sit down to write!

Easton swims for his life

It's been over three weeks since Easton injured his right rear leg after being attacked by an off-leash dog. We were hoping that after a few sessions of swim therapy he could grow strong enough to heal, but that is not the case. A trip to the Vet last week brought a preliminary diagnoses of a torn/ruptured ACL. When our Vet first met and examined Easton a month ago, she thought there might be some minor soft tissue damage to his knee even though his range of motion was good and he was not limping. Since the day we got him, he has "drug" his right-rear paw, occasionally scraping the nails on the asphalt when we toddled around the neighborhood. It has become obvious to me that Easton has had a knee condition for some time now. The attack has made it worse, aggravating or even completing the tear of the soft tissue in his knee. We are expecting an opinion from the radiologist today or tomorrow.

Here is video from Easton's last session at Splash Dog Spa (it's really not fancy, just very well thought out). You'll see in the video, at times, Easton seems to swimming harder; because he is! Leigh Anne turns on the jets and Easton swims against a raging current. Let me tell you, it wears his baggy ass out! Plus, he gets a massage every 5 minutes or so. WOW. He just loves it. When I win the Lottery, we'll do it 5 times a week....ha, ha.



On the advice of our Vet, Easton has to go cold turkey!
NO toys
NO fetch
NO rough house - It's like we've done this all our lives. He is gentle, but tough!
NO dog park
NO more swimming for now - If he has surgery, he'll be swimming a lot for therapy.
Short, controlled walks
Less food (no weight gain allowed) - he is not overweight, but no chances taken!
....And, the toughest one - NO stairs (or at least minimum up-and-down). This one is just about killing him, because he needs to follow me EVERYWHERE. Both flights of stairs are blocked, but I let him come up to sleep with us at night.

When I know more about what the course of action is with Big Red, I'll let you all know. He is still a happy-go-lucky boy who doesn't seem to realize he could be seriously injured. I'm trying to teach him how to play laying on his back. He doesn't get it yet, but I see signs he is starting to relax and let it flow.

Patience is a virtue

Goldens are such show-offs (like my friend Khyra always says).