cody bear’s friends

so we haven’t talked about cody bear’s gastroparesis in a while, have we?…

NO! because i think this is the longest he has ever gone without barfing! i’m so proud of my little guy. (if you’re lost, check out the gastroparesis posts by clicking on that word in the tag cloud to the left)

with such healthy food, switching the meds (reglan) from 15 to 30 minutes before eating, and the stress relief work the dog is working on, this is the longest he has gone without being sick! almost 5 months i think!!!

some notes:

it still sucks when people cuddle him and always feel the need to mention how skinny he is, as if i’m starving him or something. but i think i’m learning that they’re not accusing me of not feeding him, they’re just surprised because he is so fluffy and that when they pet him they can feel his ribs and back bone.

because the stomach struggles to digest, cody bear has been getting 3 or four small meals a day. he eats them very slowly….

feeding him with the molecuball insures that he will eat slowly and actually chew the bites of kibble. plus…he’s so cute when he does it!

also, he is pretty much allowed to eat as many treats as he wants. they just have to be made of really healthy ingredients and nothing full of preservatives like snausages and such. no chews or bones either.

and, the higher the fat, the better, as far as i’m concerned. fewer ingredients sit better in his stomach, too.

also, i try really hard to walk him before meals, not after. i don’t want the food in his belly making him cranky if we encounter a barking or scary dog.

i know the gastroparesis is still there, but it is nice to be controlling it.

someone said the nicest thing to me (…and my dog) today. i took cody bear to work and after teaching class cody bear and i were playing around. practicing some tricks. rasslin’. a fellow volunteer said “he loves you” or something like that. cody bear and i turned around and she said, “i love watching you two together.”

this is the best thing to hear. my dog is so independant, and it took us a verrry long time to bond.

i sure do love this dog:

disclaimer: the third picture is meant for a mature audience, so no beavis and butthead laughs. (i’ll explain when we get to that photo.)

first of all, here is my very pretty dog. he has some aussie and some chow in there. (we get his canine dna retest results in 6 weeks…i’ll keep you posted)

yes, he IS quite lovely. and in case you haven’t noticed, i love him tons and tons.

here he is again, being his happy self:

and….here’s his butt:

he has little furry gaucho pants! how cute is that!? anyway, this picture was meant for my sister, as she ADORES dogs with gaucho pants. if you think its in poor taste…i’m sorry….

….but he’s just so cute and fluffy!

 well,….as you all know….it’s flippin’ cold outside. nothing says “it’s flippin’ cold outside” like the image of a dog in a scarf.

now, i’m not one to dress my dog up in clothing.   cody bear doesn’t typically dig the fashion scene.  but, even he admits its cold outside and it would be best just to hunker down in a warm quilt with a loved one.

as you may know, cody bear is a huge fan of checkers.  checkers latest top dog model idea is brilliant, so cody wanted to try his paw at modeling, as well.  here is HIS best shot:

“wow, you really make me believe you want to go for walk”.

yes, he does want to go for a walk, and so, becuase his photo was so convincing, that is what we will do know!  but first, a special moment last night, captured on film:

this is a cuddle heap.  the cat and dog are much more tolerant of each other when the weather is cold.

what a good idea checkers had to post his puppy picture! (check him out at his blog, he’s really cute!)

so, this was cody bear in september ‘04. i picked him up at a local animal shelter and used a gift certificate to adopt him. two friends had given me that gift certificate earlier when they learned of loki’s passing away.

when i saw tiny cody i got really choked up, he was just so cute and frightened. when i picked him up, he laid his head on my should and i could feel him actually holding on to me with his paws,….so i brought him home. he was my dog! and we needed eachother.

the cat is finally warming to him.

what make’s a dog smile like this?

well, mom is home for lunch, and the sun is finally out after days of gloom. he takes off in his exuberant way. cute as hell. the faster he goes, the bigger the smile, the crazier the eyes!

and, how can you not be happy when you have no worries, no place to be, no obligation, and…..you’re just a mandarin collie who is loved tremendously.

and how can you not be happy when you’re running back to mom, who loves you more than anything in the world, and …. she is cheering you on??

…….and of course…..you just KNOW your getting a cookie in a few minutes. it will be peanut buttery and crunchy.

poor cody bear.  mom slept too late AGAIN to take him for a morning walk.  the weather should finally improve tonight so he can go for a nice long stroll.  the last 3 nights have been bad.  here he is, running through the fog, looking for squirrels or cats.

truthfully, he did not want to get out of bed this morning at first, but once he got outside, he was hell on paws, as usual.

unravelling doggie dna…

for my birthday, dave, lynn and hannah ordered the canine heritage breed test for me.  we expect the results any day now.  please look at these pictures and venture a guess in comments.  we would love it if you did!!

that isn’t my favorite shot, but it shows his coat pretty well.  he looks so serious!  (i’ll post some shots of him having fun in future days!)

here he is before work one day:

here is a close up of his head.  he has that neotony/puppy thing going on, even though he was almost 3 in this shot:

i have had some great guesses from friends, one particular mix keeps popping up.  and, while it seems to be majority for golden chow, i don’t think that is what he is.  they aren’t the best pictures, but they each give an idea of what he looks like.

here is an older picture:

i can’t wait to get the results.  1. obviously just curiosity, 2.  it might help me deal with some of his behavior.  he is so smart and wonderful, but does have some interesting habits, fears.  he is terrified of other dogs.  he wants to hunt down every cat in town.  he has learned more tricks than any dog i have personally met.  and waffles between sheer independance and blind loyalty/neediness.  i just love him so so so much.

please give me a guess!  he’s 3, by the way, and has gastroparesis.

thanks