Yesterday was our first piddle in the house free day. You go girl.

tatas to the wind. She has such a cute little snore too. She makes a lot of noise while breathing too. We have gone a whole week without poopsies in the house, hoping for a piddle free day here soon. We are doing the kennel training method and she even piddles in her kennel. She micro pees. Just little dribbles

Fuggles: pssst…. go pee on the floor to get even

So sat we picked up Zoey from Hearts United for Animals no kill shelter near Auburn NE. HUA is pretty darn cool. The complex was huge and all sorts of dogs are there. They specialize in rescuing from puppy mills and other pounds. They have placed animals in 45 states and Canada. They want to make sure the animals are placed in good homes so the application process is very in depth and it includes a visit to your house to make sure the animals will be in a good home. Friday night we had our visit and it went well.

Sat morning we made the foggy drive and had a good amount of ones we wanted to visit. We headed forst to see Victorias’s secrets, Jammies, Nighty, and P.J. We were thinking Jammies before we got there, but it was Nighty who melted Theresa’s heart. Theresa tried to play it cool and look at the other dogs we had in mind, but I could tell we had found the one. Nighty (now Zoey) was the runt and had smaller feet than her brothers. Filled out the paperwork and home we headed.

She was a bit stinky and we had the windows down a bit on the ride home. We have done introductions before so we knew what to do. Kitty was first and I have never seen him poof up that much. His tail looked like a raccoon. After a few minutes Thunky sat and stared then walked away.

We put Zoey in her kennel and into my bedroom and then let Fuggles come in the house and sniff around. After a few minutes we pulled the kennel out and let Fuggles sniff, then Theresa held Zoey and we let Fuggles sniff. It was a bit tense for a while. Finally we let them deal with each other and this was what happened.

Introductions made we needed to give her a bath. Small enough to fit in the sink.

She runs all silly and when she was shaking off the water her tail flopped around like a didlo. Cute

She seems to be getting the whole poo and pee outside thing, but when Theresa let her have the house unsupervised while she showered Zoey dropped a dook on a pile of wires under the computer desk. ewwwwww

^ sweet monkey love caught in the act ^

Fuggles has been humping a stuffed santa we got for her and Maggie. It is really odd. Maggie was the one who would rip into the stuffed animals to get the squeaker out and then Fuggles would rip the guts out. With Maggie gone Fuggles just carries them around like her pets and humps them. She really is papas little girl

What a gift her life with us was.

Today at lunch we knew it was time to put our sweet little Maggie down when we saw she threw up the little bit of food she had eaten in the last day completely undigested. After a visit to the vet last night and the Xray showing how the cancer has taken over her lungs to the point her muscles shake because they do not have enough oxygen, we are ready to put her to rest. The vet will come to put her to sleep Saturday at 2:30 at our home.

Maggie was my first dog I ever had the privilege to live with. My roommate got her to be trained as a hunting dog. Theresa was my live in GF and we loved her as our own. Maggie was gun shy and my roommate let us keep her when he moved on. Theresa and I adopted our late dog Cloe about 6 months after our roommate got Maggie. They were best buddies and I am sure that is why he let us keep her when he moved away. Although I have already lost a dog, this one hurts a bunch because she has been with me through all of it. She will always be my first dog and a great member of our family we will always remember.

We will cremate her Like we did with Cloe. We have a small urn with Cloe’s ashes and will mix some Maggie in there as well. We spread Cloe’s ashes at her favorite places, Wilderness, salt creek by our house, cooper park, and the Oak Lake dog run. Maggie will get the same as well. So at least we get one more night with her. Maybe Theresa will let me sleep in her bed tonight

We are going to take our time to get another dog. We picked up Fuggles two days after Cloe died and it was not fair to Maggie at all. She was so mad. The puppy helped us, but we need to make sure we get a dog who will fit. Might look into fostering a dog as well. Until we start looking we need to work on training Fuggles better, and spoiling the crap out of her.

We will always love you and miss you dearly baby.

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UPDATE: Maggie had a really rough night. We thought it was the end at 4 Am, but she kept kicking and laid in bed for a while after Theresa got up. She made it to her safe spot between the couch and coffee table at a bout 10 AM. Vet called and said they would be here at 12:30 Maggie was so ready and the shot was administered. She went almost instantly, within a minute she had no heartbeat. We took a few minutes so the other pets could see her body and understand what happened. I carried her out to the vets truck and that was that.

Today is actually a happy day, her suffering is over. It went so easy and not having to take her into the vet was absolutely perfect. The house call was $45 extra, but completely worth it. If you are ever in a similar situation see if your vet offers in home service. If not, the emergency vet does.

Thanks Marlin. (car is running awesome and so warm )

Visited the vet today to find out what really is wrong with Maggie. Xrays showed a huge spleen and severe cancer in her lungs. Dr said she has 15 – 20 % lung capacity now. There is no treatment option. We acquired Maggie from a roommate long ago and she has always been the sweetest little thing. Always skittish and sad She took a motherly role to our passed dog Cloe and never warmed up to Fuggles or Thunky. She is not eating much now, but finally gets human food. We have her on pain pills and hope to have a few more days with her. When the time comes we will have our vet come to our house. It is good to know what is wrong with her. We feel better knowing why she is going away. We are ready, but still sad.

So that pic above…. Theresa has had her bed on the floor for a while to make it easier for Maggie to get into the bed at night. She does not have the strength to jump up anymore, so Theresa wanted just the mattress for now so Maggie can still get to her fave spot. Thunky is having a blast climbing up the side of the box spring to his new perch. We have never seen him climb like that.

Soooooo.. the good news is that we got our car back after 3 freezing weeks in the truck. We ended up getting a used engine with only 43K miles on it. It is so warm. We did a bunch of shopping and had the heat full blast the whole time. Was like a sauna. The whole situation was pretty messed up, and the shop took a hit because of it all. Still they did what is right and we are happy to have the car back. The drive to work tomorrow is going to be absolutely amazing and for some strange reason I am looking forward to going to work

Two weeks ago we thought she was ready, but she is kicking it pretty good now. Her arthritis is hurting her and she takes her time eating every now and then. Lately she is doing pretty good. She can still make it outside, get on the couch, and climb into bed. She is on meds, so that is prob helping. When it is time we are ready, but really enjoying the time we continue to get.

linky