So, I'm running now. I don't think anyone would call me a runner. In fact, I can't really even say that I like to run, you could even say I hated it. But, now, I'm running.
It all started when Adam decided we needed a treadmill. We bought one off of Craig's List. The plan was for us to get in shape for the wedding. I kicked and screamed (well really I just did a WHOLE lot of whining) to get out of it. Remember, I hated running. But Adam pushed and we made an effort and I think we looked pretty good at our wedding. Great. That was done, I could stop running-whew.
I didn't run all summer long, but I sure did eat. If I hate running, well I feel the opposite about food. I LOVE to eat. Long story short, I undid all my running.
So this winter I hopped back on the treadmill. I find running on treadmills to be pretty boring. I mean you're just running in one place and the only thing you have to look at is the clock. So I started downloading movies and tv shows on my ipod. I found if I had something to distract me I didn't mind running so much. I got pretty good at it, or at least I thought so.
And then came Luna. She had way more energy than any dog I had ever met before. And she developed a new game, trying to nip at my knees and ankles while I was running on the treadmill. New plan, I'll switch to running outside and I'll take Luna with me. I keep running and it gets some of Luna's energy out. One day while running we saw a banner for the Lansdowne Memorial 5K. I thought that would be a good goal. I decided to run a 5K. Really? I hate to run, why would I choose to run 3.1 miles? I still have no idea.
We did pretty good, but Luna is, well, a little unfocused. So, once I had a race to train for I ditched the dog (not really, a long walk with her became my cool down) and learned the course. I ran it as often as I had a chance too, working on getting better at it every time.
Fast forward to race day. I got up at 7am, yup 7am on a day off. Ate a little muffin and did some stretching. At about 7:45am I headed out. It's just a 2 block walk to downtown where the race starts. I went to the registration table and gave them my name. I got my number (360) and my t-shirt. I kinda forgot I was getting a t-shirt so I wore one on top of my running shirt. So, in the absence of something else to do I added another layer. Yup I ran 3 miles in very warm weather in 3 shirts. Not too bright. The race didn't start until 8:30 so I had some time to kill. It became very apparent at that point that I wasn't a runner. The runners there were talking to each other about gear, and their last race. What their mile time was, and they were taking warm up runs to check out the track. I was just trying to sit and be still so as not to expend any energy. I'd need it all for the race.
After a while some dude on a megaphone started talking and everyone started moving in his direction. I had NO idea what he was saying, but I moved with the crowd mostly because I had to or get trampled. We were all standing around asking each other what the dude was saying and then all of a sudden an air horn went off. Was that a go? Wait, were we running in heats? Was I starting in the right place? Again, I moved with the crowd to avoid being run over. So we were running.
The "runners" quickly moved to the front (if they weren't there already) and the rest of us fell into groups. No one stopped traffic, they simply posted volunteers at intersections to try to persuade people not to drive through the course. It worked mostly, just one jerk driving against the stream smoking a cigarette.
I was pretty quickly passed by a whole bunch of kids (one of them was running in a pair of jeans and another brought her purse with her-weird). Oh well, at least I wasn't getting passed by the old folk. And . . .then . . .I got passed by a dude speed walking. Yup, some guy was walking faster than I was running.
Fast forward again to between mile 1 and 2. I passed all those silly kids and the speed walker. Ha! Take that! A little ahead of me folks were detouring into someone's yard to run through a sprinkler. The folks that live on the street saw and turned their's out into the street. It made for a nice little cool down.
It turns out that I ran better, harder and faster than I ever had before. I think it had to do with the fact that at nearly every intersection there were people clapping. Some kids came out and banged on buckets and pots and cheered. One little girl made us a sign. At mile one there was a pirate handing out water, and a little after mile 2 there was a group of boys passing out water as well. It helps when everyone is cheering for you.
I finished. My time was 36 minutes and 38 seconds. Which translates to slightly less than 12 minutes a mile. I was 162nd out of 195. Not bad for my first race I think.
I stayed around for a bit after the race. I drank some water and ate an orange and cheered on those who came in behind me.
After a bit I went back home and got Molly and came back into town. We sat on the front lawn of the Baptist church and watched the parade. It was a whopping 10 minutes long!
I came home fixed some breakfast, watched Big Trouble in Little China and took a nap.
Good Day.
I'm still not a runner, but I do think I will run another race. There is a 5K coming up next month. At the end of the race margaritas are served. Now that's a race I can get into!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
House updates-Part One-Inside
Ok, it has been a while since I posted updates on our house progress. That is mostly because there hasn't been much progress (or at least none that was update worthy). Anyway, here are our accumulated updates between January and now.
January--
We had six new replacement windows installed in our sun room. That's the room off of our bedroom. We still have to rip out the walls and ceiling as the room has no insulation. We can then stud out the walls and insulate and drywall. That will hopefully be a May or June project.
Mom and Dad Dunn were here when those windows were replaced, they can attest to how chilly our house is in the winter time. We are working on replacing all the windows (some of the windows are 70+ years old). We are doing it in smaller chunks so that we can pay it off more easily. These are almost paid off, and next up will be the living and dining rooms.
February--
I don't actually think we did anything during the month of February.
March--
We hung our fist picture on the wall. In the kitchen. "Stacked Quilts"-a piece of artwork given to us by Adam's mom.
We purchased an entry way table for the back door. It is a nice catch all clutter table.
We also installed some really nice (Tiffany Style) reading lamps for the bedroom.
April--
We purchased a new refrigerator since ours pretty much died. It has ice and water in the door. Adam is not sure how he ever managed to get by without it.
We found and then treated two large termite colonies in our yard.
Adam began drafting the design of our fence. We are hoping to apply for our zoning and building permits soon. The goal will be to have our fence built by the beginning of June.
I ripped out the ceiling in the guest room. We already had ripped up the carpet, pull off all the wallpaper and demolished the ridiculously small closet. Our entire 2nd floor has little to no insulation. It is hard to keep warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. So now that it is all ripped out Adam just has to stud out the walls, insulate and re-drywall. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before we have an honest to God guest room. It will be exciting.
On a side note, i did find some insulation in the ceiling (a small bit) that some critter had nested in (my guess based on the shredded newspapers amongst the fiberglass) at some point in the mid 60s. Here are some pics of my work.
January--
We had six new replacement windows installed in our sun room. That's the room off of our bedroom. We still have to rip out the walls and ceiling as the room has no insulation. We can then stud out the walls and insulate and drywall. That will hopefully be a May or June project.
Mom and Dad Dunn were here when those windows were replaced, they can attest to how chilly our house is in the winter time. We are working on replacing all the windows (some of the windows are 70+ years old). We are doing it in smaller chunks so that we can pay it off more easily. These are almost paid off, and next up will be the living and dining rooms.
February--
I don't actually think we did anything during the month of February.
March--
We hung our fist picture on the wall. In the kitchen. "Stacked Quilts"-a piece of artwork given to us by Adam's mom.
We purchased an entry way table for the back door. It is a nice catch all clutter table.
We also installed some really nice (Tiffany Style) reading lamps for the bedroom.
April--
We purchased a new refrigerator since ours pretty much died. It has ice and water in the door. Adam is not sure how he ever managed to get by without it.
We found and then treated two large termite colonies in our yard.
Adam began drafting the design of our fence. We are hoping to apply for our zoning and building permits soon. The goal will be to have our fence built by the beginning of June.
I ripped out the ceiling in the guest room. We already had ripped up the carpet, pull off all the wallpaper and demolished the ridiculously small closet. Our entire 2nd floor has little to no insulation. It is hard to keep warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. So now that it is all ripped out Adam just has to stud out the walls, insulate and re-drywall. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before we have an honest to God guest room. It will be exciting.
On a side note, i did find some insulation in the ceiling (a small bit) that some critter had nested in (my guess based on the shredded newspapers amongst the fiberglass) at some point in the mid 60s. Here are some pics of my work.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Expanding the Riggar Pack
A couple of weeks ago I got an email at work from Adam. It was a post from the Philly Animal Welfare Society (one of the city's no kill shelters). It was a picture of a very cute little pitbull in foster care. Her name was Luna and Adam suggested we meet her. We had always planned to adopt a second dog once we got a house with a yard. There was no way we'd have been able to fit two dogs in our little South Philly row house. Ever since we moved into our new house I've been combing the PAWS posts looking for the perfect sibling for Molly. She loves being with other dogs so much that we knew she would be much happier with a little brother or sister.
We contacted Shannon, Luna's foster mom and set up a meeting for Saturday, April 11th. We got up that morning to find it pouring rain. Not to be deterred, we put the seats down in the santa fe (so we wouldn't have wet dog on the back seat) and made sure we packed extra towels to dry the dog off. We also knew that we'd be dropping Adam off at work immediately following the meeting so we packed up all his work stuff in the car too. We had everything, well almost. Neither Adam nor I thought to wear a rain coat or bring an umbrella. So we stood in the rain, getting soaked and chatting with Shannon and Stacy (another foster mom brought in to test us) while Luna and Molly played in the mud. The meeting was a success and we passed all the tests of the foster moms.
Side note--Turns out Shannon owns Lochi who is another pitbull that looks very similar to Molly and is actually one of Molly's playmates from our old dog park in South Philly. Small world.
We set up an overnight visit for the next Saturday and then quickly went to Target to buy Adam some dry clothes so he could go to work.
On Saturday, April 18th, we picked Luna up and brought her home. And she hasn't left. On the very next Wednesday (the same day Molly came home from surgery) we officially adopted Luna.
She is absolutely adorable. She is just over 1 year, so she is still very much a puppy. She LOVES Molly and is continually giving her kisses. She also enjoys emptying the contents of the toy basket every day. She does the cute little head tilt whenever anything in confusing to her. She squeals when she yawns, she eats in her sleep, and she is obsessed with trying to pick up sticks that are ridiculously large and trying to drag them home on our walks. And she has turned Molly into a giddy little girl. The two have a blast together, and when she does something dumb and puppylike, Molly is right there to keep her in line.
We contacted Shannon, Luna's foster mom and set up a meeting for Saturday, April 11th. We got up that morning to find it pouring rain. Not to be deterred, we put the seats down in the santa fe (so we wouldn't have wet dog on the back seat) and made sure we packed extra towels to dry the dog off. We also knew that we'd be dropping Adam off at work immediately following the meeting so we packed up all his work stuff in the car too. We had everything, well almost. Neither Adam nor I thought to wear a rain coat or bring an umbrella. So we stood in the rain, getting soaked and chatting with Shannon and Stacy (another foster mom brought in to test us) while Luna and Molly played in the mud. The meeting was a success and we passed all the tests of the foster moms.
Side note--Turns out Shannon owns Lochi who is another pitbull that looks very similar to Molly and is actually one of Molly's playmates from our old dog park in South Philly. Small world.
We set up an overnight visit for the next Saturday and then quickly went to Target to buy Adam some dry clothes so he could go to work.
On Saturday, April 18th, we picked Luna up and brought her home. And she hasn't left. On the very next Wednesday (the same day Molly came home from surgery) we officially adopted Luna.
She is absolutely adorable. She is just over 1 year, so she is still very much a puppy. She LOVES Molly and is continually giving her kisses. She also enjoys emptying the contents of the toy basket every day. She does the cute little head tilt whenever anything in confusing to her. She squeals when she yawns, she eats in her sleep, and she is obsessed with trying to pick up sticks that are ridiculously large and trying to drag them home on our walks. And she has turned Molly into a giddy little girl. The two have a blast together, and when she does something dumb and puppylike, Molly is right there to keep her in line.
I am sure there will be many more posts following the hijinks on Molly and Luna. But I will use this moment to introduce you to Luna "Lander" Riggar, or Luna "Balloona" Riggar. She goes by both.
So many updates so little time . . .
Big things happening at the Riggar house. I suspect I will have to do this in several posts but here goes:
Molly--
I think a while back ago I posted about Molly's love for running and how it sometimes overcomes her ability to make rational decisions. Thus the torn ACL. Well this past Tuesday Molly went away for surgery. I got up early and asked her if she wanted to go for a ride in the car. The answer, as always: "Boy do I!!" When I dropped her off I had to take all of her personal effects with me (so they wouldn't get lost). Molly does NOT like to be without her jewelry. As soon as the collar and chain came off, the tail went in between the legs. Suddenly this wasn't a fun car trip anymore. She kept a very brave face as I walked her to the back, but I could tell she thought we were leaving her. So sad.
Now, Molly has never been away from home unless Adam was also away from home. I very quickly found out that he does not do well without his princess. He misses her very much when she is not around. We cooked up some steak, and he packed up a few pieces just for his special girl when she came home. This is one of the many things that I love about him.
Molly was only away overnight, she was back at home Wednesday afternoon a little groggy, but still home. She has a pretty gnarly incision full of staples (it makes me think of my Aunt Margaret who had the same surgery when she played college basketball).
Over this past weekend she has gone from being bedridden to running and playing. She is already putting weight on her bum leg. She can walk (allbeit with a pretty pronounced limp) with all four legs, but if she wants to run she switches to three. It is kind of funny. She has even gotten back to playing with her little sister Luna (my next update). We're very happy with her progress and proud that she isn't letting a little knee surgery get her down. She goes back to the hospital tomorrow evening for a check up and hopefully she will be given clearance to start walking and playing more and more.
We'll keep you updated on her recovery. But in the meantime I leave you with a photo of her bum leg full of stitches.
PS-Adam thinks we should shave her other leg to match this one and then she'll have a butt mohawk.
Molly--
I think a while back ago I posted about Molly's love for running and how it sometimes overcomes her ability to make rational decisions. Thus the torn ACL. Well this past Tuesday Molly went away for surgery. I got up early and asked her if she wanted to go for a ride in the car. The answer, as always: "Boy do I!!" When I dropped her off I had to take all of her personal effects with me (so they wouldn't get lost). Molly does NOT like to be without her jewelry. As soon as the collar and chain came off, the tail went in between the legs. Suddenly this wasn't a fun car trip anymore. She kept a very brave face as I walked her to the back, but I could tell she thought we were leaving her. So sad.
Now, Molly has never been away from home unless Adam was also away from home. I very quickly found out that he does not do well without his princess. He misses her very much when she is not around. We cooked up some steak, and he packed up a few pieces just for his special girl when she came home. This is one of the many things that I love about him.
Molly was only away overnight, she was back at home Wednesday afternoon a little groggy, but still home. She has a pretty gnarly incision full of staples (it makes me think of my Aunt Margaret who had the same surgery when she played college basketball).
Over this past weekend she has gone from being bedridden to running and playing. She is already putting weight on her bum leg. She can walk (allbeit with a pretty pronounced limp) with all four legs, but if she wants to run she switches to three. It is kind of funny. She has even gotten back to playing with her little sister Luna (my next update). We're very happy with her progress and proud that she isn't letting a little knee surgery get her down. She goes back to the hospital tomorrow evening for a check up and hopefully she will be given clearance to start walking and playing more and more.
We'll keep you updated on her recovery. But in the meantime I leave you with a photo of her bum leg full of stitches.
PS-Adam thinks we should shave her other leg to match this one and then she'll have a butt mohawk.
Friday, April 3, 2009
This could only happen to me . . .
I have been debating whether or not to post this for a few days now, for fear of being mocked, but Adam said I should (probably out of his own amusement). So here goes . . .
This past Wednesday was Molly's 5th birthday. So, of course, we needed to celebrate. Adam and I took her shopping to pick out her own birthday toy, and then we stopped by the grocery store to make a yummy steak dinner (Molly did not get her own steak, but she did get a couple of bites of our steaks) in celebration. We all loaded up in the car and headed out to the Petco and Acme. On our way there I said to Adam that I thought I might like a glass of wine with dinner and could we stop by the packie (side bar: liquor stores in CT are called package stores, packie is short for package store)? Adam obliged.
Now, if you know me, you know that pretty much anytime I leave the house with Adam I bring nothing with me. He always has keys and a wallet and he always drives so I don't need anything. As we pulled into the parking lot at the packie, I realized I did not have my wallet. Adam gave me some cash and said it would be fine. Of course, I thought, surely now that I am in my 30s I can buy a bottle of wine without ID.
HA!
When I got to the register, the guy behind looked at me and said, "ID?" I calmly explained that I had left it at home, but I assured him I was over 21. 31 to be exact, born in '77. He looked at me very skeptically, then another employee walked by. "Waddya think Lou, she says she's 31?" Lou disagreed, unless I had ID no sale. Sigh.
The guy at the register asked if I drove to the store. I replied that my husband was in the car waiting for me. He said, "Well, if your husband is with you, bring him in."
I dejectedly went back out to the car. Adam rolled down the window to find out what went wrong.
"They don't believe that I am 31, and they won't sell me a bottle of wine without my husband present."
I seriously thought he might fall out of the car laughing.
Eventually I coaxed him out of his hysterics and, giggling the whole time, he accompanied me to the register to purchase my bottle of wine. And, of course, the guy behind the counter did NOT check Adam's ID. I was so thoroughly embarrassed.
Red faced I returned home, where I had TWO glasses of wine.
This past Wednesday was Molly's 5th birthday. So, of course, we needed to celebrate. Adam and I took her shopping to pick out her own birthday toy, and then we stopped by the grocery store to make a yummy steak dinner (Molly did not get her own steak, but she did get a couple of bites of our steaks) in celebration. We all loaded up in the car and headed out to the Petco and Acme. On our way there I said to Adam that I thought I might like a glass of wine with dinner and could we stop by the packie (side bar: liquor stores in CT are called package stores, packie is short for package store)? Adam obliged.
Now, if you know me, you know that pretty much anytime I leave the house with Adam I bring nothing with me. He always has keys and a wallet and he always drives so I don't need anything. As we pulled into the parking lot at the packie, I realized I did not have my wallet. Adam gave me some cash and said it would be fine. Of course, I thought, surely now that I am in my 30s I can buy a bottle of wine without ID.
HA!
When I got to the register, the guy behind looked at me and said, "ID?" I calmly explained that I had left it at home, but I assured him I was over 21. 31 to be exact, born in '77. He looked at me very skeptically, then another employee walked by. "Waddya think Lou, she says she's 31?" Lou disagreed, unless I had ID no sale. Sigh.
The guy at the register asked if I drove to the store. I replied that my husband was in the car waiting for me. He said, "Well, if your husband is with you, bring him in."
I dejectedly went back out to the car. Adam rolled down the window to find out what went wrong.
"They don't believe that I am 31, and they won't sell me a bottle of wine without my husband present."
I seriously thought he might fall out of the car laughing.
Eventually I coaxed him out of his hysterics and, giggling the whole time, he accompanied me to the register to purchase my bottle of wine. And, of course, the guy behind the counter did NOT check Adam's ID. I was so thoroughly embarrassed.
Red faced I returned home, where I had TWO glasses of wine.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Yard work
This weekend was our last free weekend until mid/late April. As per usual we both go into tech at the same time. It is hard enough to flip flop techs, but time stops at home when we are both in tech. So if we have a free weekend before the madness we do our best to make it count. I knew I needed to get caught up on laundry, and try to do some meal planning (when we are in tech we eat 2-3 meals outside of our home each day, I try to keep us in leftovers to save money and hopefully keep us eating a little healthy). It is also our last chance for a bit to get some work done on the house.
We finally had a weekend of decent weather and decided our house project for this weekend would be yard work! I was excited, as I love puttering about the yard. Now, our house had about 10 years of neglect that we have been working on reversing, I think our yard had at least that much, if not more. Adam decided we should start at the corner of our house (the corner of Lansdowne and Violet). We had a large section of shrubery that was pretty much dead AND it blocked the view for our neighbors leaving our street.
As we worked away many of our neighbors stopped by to introduce themselves. We got to visit some with Nancy (she lives behind us) and we got to meet her dog Jasmine. Tom (who lives in the old Pennock Mansion at the end of the street-side note: The Pennock family lived in our house while they were building the house Tom lives in) stopped by to say hello and let us know that he was hoping to throw a party for us to get to know everyone on the street once it gets warmer. Leo said hello to Adam as he passed by our house. Alice (from one street over) stopped by with her dog Naomi to tell us of a great place nearby to take Molly. Al, our postman, also chatted with us for a bit. Papa Joe (or just Pops) came by to check on us too, he is the caretaker for the Apartments next to us (which he very oddly refers to as the hotel). All in all it was a great day. And we got 20+ bags of debris cleared. We hope the trash men won't be too upset at us.
I also thought I would share with you a list of the things we found hiding in our yard:
--I stopped counting at 6 water bottles
--1 orange juice bottle
--an empty 40 oz of beer
--an empty pint bottle
--a pill bottle
--an L shaped pipe joint
--a small pink t-shirt
--some hair extensions
And last but certainly not least:
A Sony cassette tape player--it was a really nice one in its day. It was actually buried in the middle of the dead shrub.
I can't wait to find out what is in the rest of the yard.
We finally had a weekend of decent weather and decided our house project for this weekend would be yard work! I was excited, as I love puttering about the yard. Now, our house had about 10 years of neglect that we have been working on reversing, I think our yard had at least that much, if not more. Adam decided we should start at the corner of our house (the corner of Lansdowne and Violet). We had a large section of shrubery that was pretty much dead AND it blocked the view for our neighbors leaving our street.
As we worked away many of our neighbors stopped by to introduce themselves. We got to visit some with Nancy (she lives behind us) and we got to meet her dog Jasmine. Tom (who lives in the old Pennock Mansion at the end of the street-side note: The Pennock family lived in our house while they were building the house Tom lives in) stopped by to say hello and let us know that he was hoping to throw a party for us to get to know everyone on the street once it gets warmer. Leo said hello to Adam as he passed by our house. Alice (from one street over) stopped by with her dog Naomi to tell us of a great place nearby to take Molly. Al, our postman, also chatted with us for a bit. Papa Joe (or just Pops) came by to check on us too, he is the caretaker for the Apartments next to us (which he very oddly refers to as the hotel). All in all it was a great day. And we got 20+ bags of debris cleared. We hope the trash men won't be too upset at us.
I also thought I would share with you a list of the things we found hiding in our yard:
--I stopped counting at 6 water bottles
--1 orange juice bottle
--an empty 40 oz of beer
--an empty pint bottle
--a pill bottle
--an L shaped pipe joint
--a small pink t-shirt
--some hair extensions
And last but certainly not least:
A Sony cassette tape player--it was a really nice one in its day. It was actually buried in the middle of the dead shrub.
I can't wait to find out what is in the rest of the yard.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
She's Crafty
So, Molly has a partially torn ACL on her back left leg. I seriously thought only basketball and soccer players got those. When I stop to think about it, I don't guess I really ever even considered the possibility of a dog having knees. I mean I know she bends her legs to walk, but maybe I just thought it was magic or something.
Anyway, it is no secret that Molly LOVES to run. When I go running outside I take her with me, and she has a blast. When Adam and I take her to the dog park she does nothing but run and chase all the ball dogs (they chase the balls and she chases them-she cares not for balls). Bill (Adam's Dad) takes her to a big off leash park and she and Riley run like crazy. And the whole time she is running she has the BIGGEST, GOOFIEST grin on her face (see photo for goofy grin). She loves it!
She was out running in the park one day, and well, she's a dog, not a rocket scientist (it's the Lab in her). I'm sure she was running and not paying attention and tripped over something or stepped in a hole, or any number of dumb things, thus creating a little tear.
We now have two options:
1) glucosamine treatments (yup just like you see on those arthritis commercials) and strict rest forever. This means no running-yuck!
2) glucosamine treatments and surgery (yuck for mom and dad's wallet)
Either way she will most likely be on glucosamine treatments for the rest of her life. Apparently this is rather common for athletic dogs.
Molly does not like to take pills (and because she is allergic to many things we're not supposed to hide the pill in a treat). We usually need to pry her mouth open, hold down her tongue and throw the pill down her throat, then hold her mouth closed while she swallows. No wonder she doesn't like to take pills, would you? Despite her dislike she mostly takes it like a champ, although there is a lot of sulking involved. (see photo for sulking-this usually is accompanied by a lot of heavy sighing)
Last night I went to give her the evening dose, and she was unhappy but had clearly swallowed. I usually take my hands away from her face keeping them nearby as a test. If she hasn't yet swallowed her pill she will take this opportunity to spit it back out. She was done-good job, now she gets a treat. She sat pretty for me as I loaded her kong. I gave it to her and turned my back as she ran off to enjoy her treat. A couple minutes later Adam pointed to the unswallowed pill on the floor. THAT SNEAKY LITTLE DOG hid the pill in her mouth and FAKE swallowed to trick me! I couldn't believe it. I have to admit I was as impressed at her craftiness as I was upset that she outsmarted me (that's the Pit in her).
I don't know maybe she is a rocket scientist after all. I clearly have underestimated her craftiness.
Anyway, it is no secret that Molly LOVES to run. When I go running outside I take her with me, and she has a blast. When Adam and I take her to the dog park she does nothing but run and chase all the ball dogs (they chase the balls and she chases them-she cares not for balls). Bill (Adam's Dad) takes her to a big off leash park and she and Riley run like crazy. And the whole time she is running she has the BIGGEST, GOOFIEST grin on her face (see photo for goofy grin). She loves it!
She was out running in the park one day, and well, she's a dog, not a rocket scientist (it's the Lab in her). I'm sure she was running and not paying attention and tripped over something or stepped in a hole, or any number of dumb things, thus creating a little tear.
We now have two options:
1) glucosamine treatments (yup just like you see on those arthritis commercials) and strict rest forever. This means no running-yuck!
2) glucosamine treatments and surgery (yuck for mom and dad's wallet)
Either way she will most likely be on glucosamine treatments for the rest of her life. Apparently this is rather common for athletic dogs.
Molly does not like to take pills (and because she is allergic to many things we're not supposed to hide the pill in a treat). We usually need to pry her mouth open, hold down her tongue and throw the pill down her throat, then hold her mouth closed while she swallows. No wonder she doesn't like to take pills, would you? Despite her dislike she mostly takes it like a champ, although there is a lot of sulking involved. (see photo for sulking-this usually is accompanied by a lot of heavy sighing)Last night I went to give her the evening dose, and she was unhappy but had clearly swallowed. I usually take my hands away from her face keeping them nearby as a test. If she hasn't yet swallowed her pill she will take this opportunity to spit it back out. She was done-good job, now she gets a treat. She sat pretty for me as I loaded her kong. I gave it to her and turned my back as she ran off to enjoy her treat. A couple minutes later Adam pointed to the unswallowed pill on the floor. THAT SNEAKY LITTLE DOG hid the pill in her mouth and FAKE swallowed to trick me! I couldn't believe it. I have to admit I was as impressed at her craftiness as I was upset that she outsmarted me (that's the Pit in her).
I don't know maybe she is a rocket scientist after all. I clearly have underestimated her craftiness.
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