Sassafrass Girl, Our Granny Pei, we miss you.

Wookie_oil Greeting Card from Zazzle.com

2010-07-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

Wookie_oil Greeting Card from Zazzle.com

lizardmarsh: Van Nuys CA: video. Sharpi the Sharpei urgently needs RESCUE/ADOPTION

2009-05-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

lizardmarsh: Van Nuys CA: video. Sharpi the Sharpei urgently needs RESCUE/ADOPTION

Angels in Heaven

2007-01-31T10:05:00.000-08:00

On January 22, 2007, our beloved Sassy Girl was put to rest.
Over the holidays she suffered a stroke, and her brain tumour was getting the best of her.
She was no longer happy.
Sassy showed us in many ways that she was ready for the bridge, so we complied.

We miss her terribly - she will always be in our hearts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Working With Blind Dogs: Inground Swimming Pools

2007-01-08T08:45:00.000-08:00

Above: Sassy working her grid

Very often ugly and tragic stories have surfaced over the years about blind dogs inadvertently falling into an inground and drowning.

I hope to offer some sound advice from my own practical experiences with my blind dogs and inground pools.

To Start With
==========

I've discussed this previously in other areas of Working With Blind Dogs. You must develop a "keyword", that you only use in the utmost urgent situation. This "keyword" should be one sylable only, you should yell it at the top of your lungs, and your blind dog should STOP dead in their tracks... no matter what. Until you have trained your blind dog to do this, and YOU SHOULD, this exercise and many other blind dog issues are futile.

So together with the help of a long-line, please get working on mastering, the 'dead stop', with your blind dog.

In my case the word is, "STOP"! My dogs will stop dead in their tracks.
If I say "STOP DANGER", they know to STOP, then immediately come back to me retracing their steps.

This word will help you in all kinds of other situations as well.

It should be noted that I don't agree with bells and other sounds devices for a blind dog. I find this frequently only de-sensitizes them in the long run, tunes them out of other more important noises, and doesn't encourage them to become independant.

Your blind dog should be able to find you no matter where you are in the house or yard, they have an excellent nose for that and don't need bells. The more you can encourage your blind dog to use their other remaining senses, the more indepenent they will become and enjoy a higher quality of life. .

OK.. you're back because your BD, knows the dead stop word, and the recall word, and knows more or less how to plot a grid. Right?

If you don't have an inground pool, ask a neighbour with an inground pool if you could work with your BD. Don't be shy. I'm sure they'll even volonteer to offer you assistance.

You can do this with or without a canine lifejacket on, and it's very helpful if someone is in the pool waiting for the in-evitable fall.

I work with a harness and a long 25ft line on Sassy, and introduce her to the back yard she's never been in. The moment she arrives in the back yard, she immediately starts to do her , "grid" . Sassy does not know what a pool is and will think the edge of the pool is similar to the edge of a sidewalk and will try to step down.

I survey Sassy and see her coming close to the edge of the pool. I shout: "STOP DANGER". Sassy stops and comes right back to me.. Good girl Sassy. She gets a kiss, cuddle and a cookie.

Several minutes into her visit, she becomes very interested in all the new smells.
Again, she gets near the edge of the pool. Again I shout: STOP DANGER.... oh-oh, Sassy blows me off in favour of the nice smells............ she falls into the deep end of the pool. It's pandamonium as we watch her sink, sink, sink.

The poor dog panics from the shock of having fallen in. She surfaces, a blind dog is completely disorientated, cannot see the sides of the pool and swims in "any' direction. Even when I call her to me, she's too upset to listen, her life is in danger and she swims away from me!!

Inevitably I pull her to me with the long line. She reaches the side and frantically tries to get out. We know that she risks scratching the liner of the pool, so my aid , (who's in the pool), lifts her up out of the water and minds her back feet too.

Sassy is out of the water, is visibly shaken, and very upset. I comfort her.

As soon as Sasssy is calm and settled down, I again, let her go mosey around the yard. This time I see she's really paying attention to her feet, this time when she get's close to the edge of the pool, she listens and does not blow me off, but comes back to me with hast. I stayed there for the rest of the afternoon. I did remove the long line, and Sassy never fell back into the pool.

I try to take her regularly, so that we can practice. Sassy even knows the word POOL now, so when I visit someone else, she is immediately on her guard, does her grid work with extra caution and steers clear from the side of the pool.

Some Caveats
===========

Some dogs will learn lesson this much faster than others, so patience is required.

Also, please take into consideration that there are some blind dogs who actually LOVE water and wouldn't hesitate to fall into a pool.

Even though we can train our blind dogs about inground pools, "stuff" happens and so do accidents, so a pool alarm is a very warranted safety device. A pool alarms lets out a loud noise when something falls into the pool.

Other devices are available too. Did you know that often even sighted dogs drown when they fall into an inground pool? Once in the pool, their immediate reaction is to aim for the closest wall of the pool, and try to climb out. Depending on the height of the water, sometimes they are successful, often they are not and drown from exhaustion. In the meantime, not all inground pools are made of cement or resin, but a liner, and needless to say, the dog will tear up and destroy the liner while trying to escape. Once panic sets in, the dog will never even think to look for the stairs, often shuts down and doesn't respond to normal commands.

There are now special platform devices for dogs and inground pools which allow a dog to easily climb out. Obviously this is not really a viable option for a blind dog. The best option is training your BD to listen to your commands, and striving to make your BD an independent thinker who develops keen skills.

The worse case scenario is to always, without fail, keep your BD away from any access to an inground pool.

Falling off a wharf, or falling into an inground pool, the risk is still the same. Best best is to work with your BD so that they clearly understand the verbal warning you are issuing to them!

Me, I prefer to work with my blind dogs. I feel they enjoy a more complete life when they have the freedom to accompany me everywhere. As of today, Sassy has not ever fallen into an inground pool again. I make it my business to take her places with me, and so far, she's WELL remembered her lesson from that one wet day this past Summer!

FYI - Sassy is an 11 year old, blind mill rescue who lived most of her life in a cage, in a puppy mill situation, so she came to us with very little skills of any kind.
Sassy has been with us only 1 year as of this past weekend.
Today, Sassy is a happy-go-lucky Grannie-Pei!!!

Waiting For Santa

2006-12-19T09:27:00.000-08:00

Chow Chow Chronicles - Pei-lings and Chowdren all under one woof!
Well, here we are waiting for Santa, The tree is up, all decorated and nice.
We've spent time in our country kitchen making all kinds of goodies.

Says Merlin: "We need Snow".... "Look around.. there's NO SNOW"... "how can we have Christmas without snow?"

Says Sassy: "Yummm...Yummm.umm. Mommy, I can just taste those Chowy Cookies.... I want some... I want Some. Who needs snow anyways. I like it when it's warm outside."

Says MeiMei: "Oh Mommy, why do we always have to get dressed up for holidays? I hate dressing up!"

Says Granny-Pei: "I think I'll just park myself here and wait for Santa. I'll stay nice and toasty warm and with any luck, a few more of those yummy, chowy cookies will fall on the floor!"

To All of our wonderful, wonderful friends out there we wish you a:
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR
JOYEUX NOEL ET MEILLEURS VOEUX POUR LA NOUVELLE ANNEE
FELIZ NAVIDAD Y PROSPERO ANYO NUEVO
PRETTIGE KERSTDAGEN EN GELUKKIG NIEUWJAAR
FROHLICHE WEIHNACHTEN UND EINEN GUTEN RUTSCH INS NEUE JAHR
WSZYSTKIEGO NAJLEPSZEGO Z OKAZJI SWIAT BOZEGO NARODZENIA
ZALIG KERSTFEEST EN GELUKKIG NIEUWJAAR
BUON NATALE E BUON ANN0
God Jul och Gott Nytt År
KELLEMES KARACSONYI UNNEPEKET ES BOLDOG UJ EVET !
Hyvaa Joulua ja Onnellista Uutta Vuotta!
FELIZ NATAL E PRÓSPERO ANO NOVO
GABON ZORIONTSUAK ETA URTE BERRI ON

Chow Chow Chronicles - Blind Dogs Rejoice!

2006-12-14T04:40:00.000-08:00

Chow Chow Chronicles - BLIND Pei-lings and Chowdren all under one woof!

Hey my blind friends, BlindDogs.info has come out with some neat code we can put on our blogs to help blind dog folks stay in touch globally.

You can pick up the code at:
http://www.blinddog.info/msgbd/viewtopic.php?t=418

Take a look at our side bar now, it has the latest dogs available for adoption!

Poutine Pei

2006-07-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

This is your PEI on Poutine!!!

Read the entire story at:
Click Here

World Cup Soccer finally over.

2006-07-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

|Whew..... things have been going crazy here.
The soccer is over and King Merlin is happy.
Hopefully things will get back to normal now.
Sassy!
Read the whole story at:
Click Here

Chow Chow Chronicles - Pei-lings and Chowdren all under one rooff: Swanky Sharpei Girl

2006-06-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

Chow Chow Chronicles - Pei-lings and Chowdren all under one rooff: Swanky Sharpei Girl

Swanky Sharpei Girl

2006-06-09T13:14:00.000-07:00

Just check me out today. I'm "stylin' ", with my new pei collar in hot pink.

My little sister Mei-Mei has one too. hmmm... wonder if Merlin is jealous?

Look At Me Now

2006-04-24T12:53:00.000-07:00

Look At Me Now

Just look at me now.
I'm so beautiful the way God originally intended me to be!
I've put on lots of weight. All of my icky fungus is gone,
I'm full of energy, and I love to play and play and play
with my little crazy sister MeiMei!

Below is my crazy Sister MeiMei

I'm having a real good time!
I'm really a HAP-PEI!

Chow Chow Chronicles - Pei-lings and Chowdren all under one rooff

2006-04-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

Chow Chow Chronicles - Pei-lings and Chowdren all under one roof

Sassy's New PJ's

2006-02-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

It's only been two days. I can;t believe how this dog tells me she loves me.Tonight, she let me treat her skin without a problem! She stood nice and still and let me wash her everywhere, then rinse her off. On went the PYJAMAS!!!! She did not protest one bit.She's been here exactly long enough to appreciate the warmth of PJ's!!!

I hate having to put her outside for bathroom duties if her fur is damp, so she needs the PJ's.Tonight she played and played and played with me.I tried to get a closeup shot of her face so you can see the severe entropian of her eyes.You can see she's a very happy camper tonight!

I tried to get a closeup shot of her face so you can see the severe entropian of her eyes.You can see she's a very happy camper tonight!Tonight Jessie and Otto (MeiMei's sister and brother), came by to say hello to Sassy.Sassy took care of Otto and his outrageous human... instantly! Sassy is a no-nonsense girl for sure, and as far as being an excellent guard dog... well she puts Merlin to shame!!!

When she's not busy guarding me, the house, my purse or the fireplace... she's playing with me, kissing me or thanking me.Sassy actually tried to play with MeiMei tonight so we are happy . MeiMei got to excited she ran around the house like crazy!!!!

Sassy rather likes Merlin. (but then, who doesn't like Merlin?). They lay together staring at the fireplace. I'll never understand that one... neither of them can see the fireplace.What a wonderful evening we are having tonight!Maybe tomorrow morning she'll let me get those booties on to keep her tosies warm!

Getting Spoiled!

2006-02-03T09:20:00.000-08:00

Does this little Sassy gal deserve to be spoiled? ABSOLUTELY for each and every day for the rest of her life!

It's nearing the end of our day, and we're getting ready to come in from the cold, sit and watch a good movie and get ready for Monday!After a nice supper of kidneys and pork necks, the Sunday night routine is kicking in.

The new one is all nicely cleaned up, pills given, ointments applied, stiches cleaned, ears cleaned and eyes checked, is settled in for the night. As you can see here, Sassy Girl has taken a real liking to being spoiled. Shes in her pei-jammies.

The other two angels...same darn thing!I've sent enought pictures today, so I promise to stop!CheersMM

Back From The Vet

2006-02-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

Well our visit to the vet went pretty well (until we got to the nail clipping)What drama!!! 3 of us holding her down... we all got quite the work out tonight.Sassy is quite well with the exception of her eyes. The vet doesn't want to make any committements until he can see past the infection. He does think we can look forward to some restored vision in one eye.

Sassy is quite well with the exception of her eyes. The vet doesn't want to make any committements until he can see past the infection. He does think we can look forward to some restored vision in one eye.

His big concern is her neurological state. Her eyes move back and forth by themselves constantly, just like a cat clock. I didn't notice that until this even either. He started to ask me a lot of questions like, does she fall over? etc.... in any case that is his prime concern, and his statement was: "hmmmm... not that's not a good sign at all" - but again, he said, let's get rid of all the infection ... so we will be going back next week after a week of antibiotics. I'll keep you posted.Other than that, she's in good health , except she needs to gain weight. That's NO PROBLEM I assured him. Heck I think she looks fatter already!

Tonight Sassy was feeling really good when we got home. She actually started playing. HEre are some pics of her in her new duds!She's doing really well. Bye the way, we will have to wait until next month for the spaying. For the next little while she's destined for funny looking undies.

She's doing really well. Bye the way, we will have to wait until next month for the spaying. For the next little while she's destined for funny looking undies.

Pyometra - A Dangerous Affair

2006-02-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

Just imagine my horror when I picked Sassy up to put her in the truck. Pus squirted out and down over my arm. I could not believe what I saw, nor could I believe the smell. We headed off to the vet immediately who diagnosed this little gal with pyometra. She underwent emergency surgery right away.
We really have to thank Nancy Allen of http://nancy.allen.net - She really was instrumental in saving Sassy's life. Thank you Nancy!!!

If you'd like more information on pyrometra please see the following resources
PYOMETRA in Dogs - What is it.

============== Human Notes =======================

What a day yesterday!My best friend and I went to pick up Sassy only for find out her mother died overnight, so I ended up going with Sassy to the house and house-sit a dead person while waiting for the 911 and the funeral home people......she died peacefully in her sleep while reading her book, I hope I go that way too.Ok... so here's all the Sassy news:

She did not have a tumour nor mastitis.The right side of her pyometric uterus , slipped into the inguinal canal and herniated. This uterus-hernia ulcerated and ruptured. The vet admits he has never seen that before, it's one for the "books", and it's beyond him how she ruptured outside her body, rather than inside her body.He is also convince this happened before as she has some scar tissue in other places from previos ruptures.

His words: "What a mess in there".He cleaned her out really well. NOW she really looks skinny. Her flanks which looked fuller before the operation, in fact was her overinflated, pyometric uterus..... In fact he made me feel better by saying that my moving her around alot, picking and poking her created the awareness necessary to save her life.

Sassy really wants to snuggle in our bed, and we think Sassy deserves at least that much, so to accomodate her drain, I purchased a very large camping tarpolin and put in on top of my bed, then covered in with cozy blankets for Sassy. If she leaks, well, we will just wash and change the blankets, at least the mattress and all of the Under bedding stays clean - so that works for us!She loves staying in bed... and she's finally asking for the door at pee-time HURRAY!!!! I know she wants us to move to Florida.

She hates the cold.Sassy is out of hot water for now. She is still left with a generalized infection and is taking anti-biotics. Her ears are a mess, her eyes need to still be fixed and she also has Central Nystagmus.(all of the above is far from the heart so we will take out time and deal with things)She won't stop thanking me every moment she has!!! What a gal she is!I am now going to take my big, black chow boy out for his morning jaunt WITHOUT the "girls", who like any smart shar-pei, are hidden away under blankets and don't want to know a darn thing about snow. God bless chowlings... they LOVE snow!

Second Clean Up

2006-02-02T13:13:00.000-08:00

Sassy was more than willing this morning as we did phase two of her cleanup.Yesterday our bath triage was for the smell, today was for the skin.

We let her sit in a warm bath of more mimosa and parrafin to hydrate her ski and actually exfoliated her with a loofa to get rid of any dead skin cells.Surprisingly we managed to get even more dirt off of her. (I thought we did that yesterday)

She's all nice and dry here and you can see she has a few skin issues but it's nothing major and I am sure the coat will come back soon.To ease her mind and thank her for being so co-operative in the bath tub, here she is with her "recreational bone".It'll keep her busy for a while.

China Dolls Part Two

2006-02-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

Click on the individual pictures to read all the captions!

Sassy is running all over the place looking for doors, windows, and places to go OUT!

We Made It Home. Sassy's New Place!

2006-02-01T11:46:00.000-08:00

You need not worry! We made it home ok!We took plenty of pics so I-ll send in two batches.This is batch one.We made it home with our China Dolls!! As most of you know, myself and Dawn drove to Maine this morning to pick up our rescues.Our rescues were the most excellent passengers.We calculated that they spent 8 hours between two vehicles.April-May did her very best to try to sneak into the front of the truck, while shy Sassy spent most of the trip staring out the back window.We made it home, into the bath and now Sassy is a true rose. One I started scrubbing, she stood there without any restraint and let me scrub-away! The dirt that came out was amazing and Sassy was a true champion. She let us towel dry her, spritz her with nice cologne. She didn't want anything to do with her new PJ's.. (that's ok), and she didn't want us to touch her over grown toe nails (that's ok to... we'll wait for another day).

We got past the intros and Merlin was a true gentleman and scholar. MeiMei tried to play, make friends, play, jump, play...... she'll have to wait for Sassy to get more comfortable. Sassy is completely NOT interested in MeiMei! She does like Merlin though... but then he's King.She enjoyed a wonderful meal (her jaws are very weak at the moment), and then discovered the dog door. One thing is more than evident, Sassy is very smart and more than capable. She went in and out the dog door by herself for at least an hour. At one time, there was a choo-choo-train of dogs following each other in and out the dog door. She knows where it is an how to use it. She did her business outside (for the first time in her life), without our help. She did have a tiny accident indoors , by hey,,, she's had a HUGE day. She's so painfully thin. We're going to have to put some fat on her.

Her tail has been between her legs since she arrived, We've been giving her some cheese and she loves it. It's after 8:00 pm and her tail is finally up in the air, curled over on her back. She's busy looking and sniffing all over our house, discovering her new world. She really doesn't know what to do with all this freedom and she's showing all the signs of being an escape artiste. I've already ordered her ID necklace from Lucky Pet - it can't come soon enough. She didn't let me put the harness back on either... that's ok, she doesn't know us, and she's just protecting herself. We'll deal with those things tomorrow.Her eyesite is NOT good. We cleaned her ears very well and her eyes as well as possible. The left eye is definitely ulcerated and I'm not sure about the right eye. Her hearing seems to be questionable too. She wouldn't let me look in her mouth, but she did let me clean her ears, which were surprisingly very clean.Unfortunately we arrived back in Montreal too late to make a side trek to the vet. We'll have to wait until Monday... but not to mind, she's navigating well and seems happy, and is becoming more and more confortable.

She's quite funny. Right now she's laying in front of the fire place with Merlin. They are both occularly challenged, but they are both looking into the fireplace window. How funny.What is also clear is that she's never been handled, touched or loved. She's never seen snow, carpets, breathed fresh air or felt warm hands. She has so many new discoveries to make. We're already looking forward to our first walk tomorrow morning. That should be fun!Enjoy the pics.Sassy is really a China Doll!... and so is April-MayWe also met new friends.Roxanna, Lisa... thanks for making the long drive to the border. It was really great meeting you both. We will take great care of Sassy and April May you need not worry!

Sassy - Our New Friend!

2006-01-18T09:04:00.000-08:00

Guess what the human dragged in? a n o t h e r o n e of those shar-pay things. Her name is Sassafrass Girl.

She's blind like I am,.... hmmmm maybe that could be interesting....

She even comes complete with her own pj's apparently because she's cold all the time.

Sassafrass Girl, or "Sassy", as human calls her, is a Rescue. She was in a very bad place and came to our house to rest, recouperate and recover. We have offered our home to Sassy as a fost home. We hope she will enjoy her stay here with us

Hello Everyone

2005-06-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

Let's all welcome in 2005. A great year to come for sure.

My name is Merlin. I am a Chow Chow

Here I am with my sidekick.

Her name is Mei-Mei the Chinese Shar-Pei.

We will start transferring our stories here.
In the meantime, you can read them at
Merlin's Daily Bread