Celebratory Beer for Lunch I’m sitting at my desk, drinking a beer (Sam Adams, for my beer friends), and staring a long four-day weekend right in the face. I don’t usually drink beer for lunch. In fact, I don’t usually drink alcohol during the week at all. Today is different. Today is special. Today Tango […]
Tango Update: Cancer, Cancer
It’s been a little crazy around here the last few months with all the cancer talk. I’m getting tired of writing that, actually. Too much crazy, too much roller coaster. We need some boring around here. Some seriously boring boredom. Back in January, Tango had an ultrasound due to some abnormal blood results. (People, heed […]
When Last We Met…
When last we met, Tango had urgent surgery to remove his spleen and an unwelcome growth on said spleen. Since then, we’ve had very few “up” days and a whole lotta “down” days, including a panicked trip (a week ago now!) to my regular vet and a trip later that same evening to the emergency […]
Personal Life. Business Life. It All Blends Together Sometimes.
Personal life. Business life. It all blends together sometimes. Most readers of the Smart Dog U blog know that I own Smart Dog University, a one-woman dog training business. Like most micro business owners, I do it all: accounting, marketing, admin, teaching, email, blogging, training, well, you get the picture. In addition to the business, […]
Beer for Lunch
I had beer for lunch yesterday. That’s a rare occurrence around here, thankfully. Our tale begins with Tango. Tango has a weak hind-end. He’s 13 years old, he has lots of joint issues, and it’s to be expected. Yesterday morning, however, it was weaker than usual. I thought he had gotten into the liquor cabinet. Not […]
The Arthritis Adventures
You know that feeling when the veterinary technician takes your dog in the back so they can “start the procedure?” Worst feeling ever. Especially when the dog puts on the brakes when you reach the point that you can’t go with them anymore. Ugh. The worst. Today is joint injection day for Tango. I know […]
It’s Only Money: Life with Old Dogs
Money and old dogs go together. We’ve got three old dogs and (one youngster who is so big it’s like having two dogs). They’re starting to have little aches and pains, a new lump every month it seems, and a series of continual little things that occasionally blossom into bigger things. Tango’s been the star […]
Doggie Birthdays
Today my sweetest of sweets, Tango, is twelve years old. He comes over to the bed every morning and sniffs my face as I wake up. This morning, I spent a little extra snuggle time with him and whispered “Happy Birthday, Fig!” in his ear. He gave me a few extra wags, which I hope […]
My Dog Has a Weird Butt Hole (aka Perianal Fistula)
There aren’t a whole lot of things that give me pause when it comes to blogging about dogs. I’ll talk to you about slobber, poop, pee, and vomit without batting an eye. One of my dogs, though, has what I call a weird butt hole and I’ve been sitting on this (hahaha) for about a […]
My Old Dog
After our R.E.A.D. programs at the local elementary schools every week, Tango exits the schools then takes me on a short sniff walk. He’s almost nine years old now. Our walks are a little different now than they were even two or three years ago. They’re more…aimless now. When he was younger, he’d follow my […]