IN MEMORIAM of Charmin July 7, 2009

The Last Battle
If it should be that I grow frail and weak

And pain should keep me from my sleep,

Then will you do what must be done,

For this -- the last battle -- can't be won.

You will be sad I understand,

But don't let grief then stay your hand,

For on this day, more than the rest,

Your love and friendship must stand the test.

We have had so many happy years,

You wouldn't want me to suffer so.

When the time comes, please, let me go.

Take me to where to my needs they'll tend,

Only, stay with me till the end

And hold me firm and speak to me

Until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time you will agree

It is a kindness you do to me.

Although my tail its last has waved,

From pain and suffering I have been saved.

Don't grieve that it must be you

Who has to decide this thing to do;

We've been so close -- we two -- these years,

Don't let your heart hold any tears.

-- Unknown

from http://www.petloss.com/poems/poems.htm

Today we all said our goodbyes to our trusty companion, Charmin the Wonder Dog. Although we're all very sad and now have a hole in our hearts, she let us know it was time and gave us the permission we needed to help her over that Rainbow Bridge. Our daughter posted a wonderful picture of Charmin while she could still stand up in the yard on her blog here, so go take a look. Mike and Matt dug a grave in our back yard that serves as her final resting place and next year will bloom beautifully with flowers to remind us of all the joy she brought to our lives.

My trusty companions

Here is where my little kitty brother hangs out when my cousins (or are they actually a niece and nephew?) come over. They are two rather large and rambunctious dogs and little JC is a tiny kitty (adult, but really small) who would just rather hang out on top of the kitchen cabinets than be chased by the dogs. Mama master was nice enough to put his food on top of the refrigerator so he could eat. That seemed to make him happy!

Below you can see how worried Katie was when I stole the washcloth from Daddy when he was trying to clean my face up after I ate. She's such a worry-wort!

Here's a close up of me with the washcloth. Mama wasn't too happy because it was a hand knitted gift from someone, so I promised not to destroy it. Yeah, like with the few teeth I have left I could REALLY do much damage!

Do you think my sibs are a little over concerned about me or something??? Here I was trying to eat and they were ALL hanging out around me! I mean who wants to eat with all those eyes staring at them anyway??? Daddy usually puts me in the bathroom with my human food and shuts the door, then the others can't get in, but this time I was trying to munch on some hard dog food. Daddy rushed me to the vet the other day because I wouldn't move or eat or anything. She told him to try baby food and let me eat WHATEVER I wanted! Hey, every gal's dream, huh? Eat anything anytime and everywhere!!! Since I'm losing weight there's no problem eating too much, but usually I only eat a couple of ounces at a time. Daddy found out that I love salmon so he's cooking that a lot now.

Today I actually walked across the kitchen floor, then veered sideways as usual and fell, kirplop! Later Daddy took me outside and came back in telling Mama how I pooped! He was so proud of me! Gee, doesn't take much to make those humans happy does it?

Worn out today

Well I haven't written for awhile because truthfully, I'm really worn out and haven't felt much like sitting up to type. Yeah I know that you know it's not me typing, but anyway, as you can see from these pictures, I'm not much in to passing words along to mamma master to type them. Daddy master took me to see the doctor the other day and she assured him I haven't had a stroke, but then what's causing my drooping face and inability to walk much? My one back leg just plain doesn't work anymore and now I can't stand at all, so they just carry me around and try to help in the back yard. I overheard Mamma and Daddy masters talking about, well I don't even want to say it..... but you know what I'm talking about... Mamma says she can't type it, so we'll move on....

So my masters are dog-sitting for their two granddogs this weekend. They keep coming over and sniffing my butt, then when they're closing in on my face I snap at them. I wish they'd just leave me alone, but really they must know I don't feel well because they don't stick around long. The picture below shows my little sis Katie trying to keep her toy away from her little sis (long story) Daisy. Funny thing is, Katie has absolutely zero interest in that toy until Daisy comes along! Daisy finally got it, then started hitting herself with it, shaking her head from side-to-side. Funny girl!

My brother Charlie was kind of sulking with his head to the back door. He really doesn't like it when strangers come to the house, even if they are his cousins.

Little bro Tucker promptly threw up right after the cuz's got here, then he hibernated in his little bed under the tv the rest of the morning. Guess he was a little upset, or maybe he's just getting old like me and wearing out.

Here's Daisy laying on the futon. Silly little girls keeps trying to bite those cats! Doesn't she know they're not real???

and then there's Buddy.... king of the hill... well he's a real sweetheart, just doesn't know how big he is. Sometimes he forgets and knocks things over, then masters aren't very happy. Luckily he likes to sleep alot as long as nobody is moving, or there's no loud noises (or quiet noises), and there's no cats around.....

Well that's all I can find the energy for today. Hope to type more again soon!

I'm a biting machine!

So this morning when mamma master was trying to shove that nasty plastic thing down my throat an insert those even nastier pills I accidentally got her finger while trying to shut my mouth. She wasn't very happy with me at all... see her poor finger ... guess I showed her, huh? It's not my fault that she got blood all over her shirt and was trying to get out the door to go to work and had to change her shirt and wash the bloody one and put a bandaid on to stop the bleeding... well hey, what can I say? Sorrrrryyyy!!! She sure was yelling at me!Then when daddy master got home from work and tried to give me the rest of what I didn't get this morning I bit him too!! He still has his bandaid on though so there's no picture to show. Oh and I yanked that badge off that he wears around his neck too!!! So he put me outside where it was all muddy and I got stuck and got all worn out, then slept the rest of the day.

The Great Escape!

Tee hee hee, they thought they could keep me corralled in the kitchen by putting up a gate, well NOTHING can keep this old girl stuck in a room with no windows to look out! I knocked it right down and well, then promptly got stuck under the chair again, but at least I wasn't stuck in that room! See....

I nabbed a Cricut!!!

Hey, I nabbed a cricut... well not exactly the bug kind with the irritating chirp, but on top of this blue rolling cart is my momma master's die-cutting machine and it's called a Cricut, so I thought I take it for a little ride!

You see, if you come around from behind the cart and get your front legs up over that bar at the bottom, then "accidentally" get your back legs stuck on the other side of the bar...
well, when you start moving your front legs forward the cart just kinda follows wherever you go!

Momma didn't think that was such a good idea. She kept saying that the Cricut cost too much money to be broken if it fell on the floor, but I was really having some fun here!

I tried to go forward, but just got all tangled up, and my back legs couldn't lift over that bar, then I ran in to the futon and well... as you can see below I just kind of ended up in a real mess, then momma lifted my back legs over the bar, but my head was all tangled in the other bar... Oh WHY did I have to try this anyway???

There! Finally I'm free! ... and I'm OUTTA here!

... well drat those back legs anyway!!!

Mush and Walking!

This is the mush that Momma made for me yesterday since I haven't been eating the dry food that's out for all of us canines in the household (and an occasional hungry feline!) She put some leftover turkey in a bowl with homemade vegetable broth, nuked for a couple of minutes, then added some farina (cream of wheat) and some yellow lentils and cooked for about five minutes. She thought I'd be too weak to chew, so she got out this thing called a magic bullet, added some ice cubes and whipped it up to a drinkable solution.

Wowser was that ever YUMMYLISCIOUS!!!!! I went through two whole bowls of it in no time flat, well everything except those lentils that weren't cooked enough to be ground up and I didn't have any chewing energy. As you can see below, I still couldn't stand up, so did all my drinking laying down (sounds like a song, huh???)


After a bit, my little bro Tucker though he'd come get some of that great smelling stuff too, but Momma kept him away, then finally let him lick the big bowl when it was empty. If you zoom in on the picture below and look carefully up above his shoulders you'll see two bright circles. Well those are our little feline sister's eyes! She was really interested in the food too!
NOW comes the GOOD part..... Momma put together a really cool hip harness so she could help me walk!!! It's made out of two old collars that are hooked on to a leash splitter, then the leash hooks on that. The two collars hooked around each leg so she could hold me up to provide support. You can see that my little sis Katie was very interested in this strange contraption!
Now the fun part was falling down on my face and playing like I couldn't get up. I KNEW that Daddy would come and rescue me, which he did. Momma said next time she'd put a collar around my neck and use a second leash to help me up. She has a little trouble bending over and picking me up without saying "OUCH!"
Phew, all that walking sure made me thirsty! ps.... today I'm walking on my own, so I guess all that nutrition gave me back some strength. AWESOME!!!

Dog Day Afternoon ... little bro makes good bed!

Ahhh... today was a lazy day for me and my brothers and sisters....
How d'ya like how I "accidentally" landed on top of my bro Tucker?
He didn't mind at all and sure made a nice warm comfy bed for me to sleep on! Momma says he's a cave dog, guess because fox terriers used to chase foxes into their little underground caves.

Momma came alonger after taking this picture and put a nice soft blanket under my chin and we slept this way for a long, long time! A little while later after I woke up I got stuck between the couch and the tv cabinet. I swear that space looked big enough for me to get my skinny behind through!

Right Turns Only

My newest issue now is that in addition to not being able to back up (lost my reverse gear a long time ago), now I can only make right turns. Have ya ever tried getting to your food bowl 20 feet away by walking in circles? Talk about getting dizzy! I keep falling down, then as I've said before, I can't get back up. Great way to lose weight, but darn, I'm starving!!! Then yesterday Daddy mowed the grass and I kept falling outside and got all green. Life is getting tougher and tougher every day. Momma said she's going to make me a rear-end harness that attaches to my leash, then she can help me walk around outside to go potty. I don't know what I think about that, guess we'll see. I'll post a picture of it if she actually makes one.

Ooops!

Momma and Daddy left for a little while this evening and I got stuck under the dining room chair again and I really, REALLY had to pee and well, I had a little accident again! That meant when they got home I was all wet and icky and Daddy had to clean me up and Momma was saying they should put me in a crate when they're gone and Daddy was saying that would make me have a heart attack and die. So Momma told Daddy that she'd just leave my messes for him to clean up so SHE wouldn't have a heart attack and die! Oh I really don't try to make them mad at me, but I just can't help it. When I'm under the table it really looks like I should be able to get through the chair, but that never works. Maybe I'll try to stay away from the chairs tomorrow.

Help me I've fallen and I can't get up!!!

Some of you might remember that old phrase from a commercial in the late 80's to early 90's. Yeah, before I was born, I know, but I hear my masters repeating it from time to time when they see me stuck on the floor not able to get up. Take this afternoon, for instance, when they came home from their Easter Sunday outting. I had not only fallen in the big water jug contraption that consists of about a 5 gallon jug upside down over a bowl, got my back leg caught in it and drug it halfway across the laundry room floor, slipped and slided all over the floor, but when I ended up face-first in the laundry bathroom and not able to back out, well needless to say I was quite a site when they opened the back door to find me barking into the kitty litter box soaking wet and in a puddle of water (or at least that's what they think it was!) No, this time neither of them took a picture of it, just sort of dried me off a bit and put me outside in the really cold rain, brought me back inside for another bath and dried me again. I shivered the rest of the night even after Daddy master so lovingly placed me on my special nighttime blanket at the foot of their bed. I don't like it when they're gone all day and hope tomorrow is a better day~

Stuck under the chair

So I felt like posing for more pictures today, OK??? Here I am (if you can see me through that pesky cat!) stuck under the dining room chair. Now I've watched those soldiers on tv sliding on their bellies like snakes under those obstacles, so why can't I do it too?

How about that dirty look? I was getting a little fed up with Momma master taking all those pictures.

That's my little sis Katie's foot. She gets so worried about me sometimes!

Stuck again with no reverse gear!

Who took away my reverse gear???? I swear that just last year I could fit behind the couch. Hey maybe my masters moved it... that's it! Nothing wrong with ME... it's all THEIR fault!!! Anyway, here's what Momma master saw when she came looking for me after hearing a bunch of banging around. Actually she only saw the couch cover moving and this is what she saw after pulling it off the arm of the couch.
... and this is a closeup of me wedged between the couch and the plant stand

There! If I can stand up, then maybe, just maybe I can get behind the couch...

Well who knocked my back legs out from under me? Now I'm all tangled up in the legs of the plant stand! Heeeeelllllllpppppp me!!! Momma is pretty much just kinda chuckling right now talking to my big sis on the phone about how funny I look...

There! She finally got off the phone and quit taking pictures, then moved the couch forward so I could escape behind it and out the other side! The next series of pics shows me happily trapsing around the house, taking my victory laps!

That dark blob in front of me in the above picture is Echo, the cat with the annoying meow. If you look closely at the door on the right (my left) you'll see the cardboard repair job Daddy master did after my little sis Katie the Border Collie got stuck downstairs all day and made a valliant attempt to eat her way through the door. Just another 30 minutes or so and she would've made it all the way through. Ah, below you see me triumphantly nearing the water bowl. You know all these laps make me very thirsty!

Ah, maybe a couple more laps just to make sure everything's where it should be...

Through the bedroom, then the bathroom...

Then the dining room again...

Ah, finally get back to the water.... HEY where's the water???? It's dry as a bone!!!! Oh wait, that's right, I fell in it today while masters were gone to work and well, kinda made a mess on the floor..... Oh WELL!

So I'll go outside... gotta get rid of some of that water I drank before spilling it. Oh yeah, we have other water too, I just really like it out of my red bowl!

Oh boy! Here comes the neighbor dog Raven. You can barely make her out behind the fence because she's silver, you know, one of those um... Schnauser's. She likes to run along the fence with us and as you can see, that black blur of Katie shows how fast she was running. Guess she was protecting me! I love my Katie!!!

Well after posting these pics Momma master has some more to show you. I was in a posing mood today!

Lazy Daisy Sunday Afternoon

I love Sundays because around here it's usually a day to rest. Not that I don't rest every other day of the week, but on Sundays my masters are usually both at home. That means they're at my beck and call for whatever I might need, like going outside or drying my feet when they accidentally get in the water bowl, or helping me get up when my back legs can't get a grip on that slippery floor. Right now all my sibs are sleeping, so I guess they like lazy Sundays too! It's too cold and wet outside to play, so I think I'll just go back to sleep. Hope your weekend was grand and that you took time to rest too!

Warm weather - Yippee!!!

Oh I love it when the sun comes out and I can dance around outside on the green grass! Today after Momma master came home I ran outside and made my way all the way around the yard. It was nice to not get me feet all cold and wet. Yucky! Then I ran in to a little problem when I came back on the deck to wait by the back door. Seems as though I took a wrong turn or something and ended up wedged in amongst a bunch of big clay pots. Well they do have plants in them, so I thought I was still out in the yard. Since my reverse gear doesn't work anymore I just stood there waiting, and waiting and waiting. Momma finally opened the door, oh boy! She'll rescue me...no wait... she let the other dogs in and called my name, but then she shut the door. Oh no.... what am I going to do now? Phew! She opened the door again, called my name a few times, then looked to her right and saw me. She laughed a little, then gently scooped me up and carried me in the house. I'm so glad that she doesn't yell at me or tease me for getting stuck AGAIN! Now I'm just walking around and around and around waiting for my Daddy master to get home from work. He always seems so happy to see me!

Slow day

Today was rather slow and uneventful, no pictures to share. The snow melted and the ground was a bit muddy, then the wind kept knocking me over. My momma master says I walk like a drunken sailor, whatever that means! While she was at the kitchen sink tonight I fell in my food bowl again, just thankful that it was the water bowl because that makes me all wet. At least with daddy master home the last few days I haven't had any indoor accidents, we'll see how tomorrow goes. Until then... adios amigos!

Sibs to the rescue... NOT!

Here I am in one of my common predicaments. Every once in awhile I get a little confused and end up between that door and the wall. My mind knows that where there's a door there's an exit and since I feel much steadier when I'm leaning up next to the wall I get stuck. Yesterday this is what the scene looked like when my Momma master saw me stuck and grabbed the camera to capture a shot. Well, she also hollered at Daddy master to come see me and all my sibs came running to the rescue. As you can see, they weren't much help, Charlie was much more interested in the camera than helping me; Tucker just stood there licking the air; and Katie stood guard outside the door! Hrummpf!!! Below is a series of pics showing my efforts to stand up on that slippery wooden floor...

If I can just get a grip...

here, let me slide around just a little further...

... further ....

Finally!!! Now I can get on my way!