My Life with Dogs

Recently, I have been searching on www.meetup.com and I have found some groups to join where I have common interests – one of these groups is the Chicago Pomeranian meetup.   Last weekend, I took Mia to the Clark Street Ale House in Chicago for the first meeting of this new group.   Thanks to my GPS, I found the place without much trouble.   Then, I realized I had been there before – with the old Pom meetup group!   Well, after feeding the infamous Chicago meters, I took Mia into the bar.

The Clark Street Ale House is a typical, local Chicago bar – long wooden bar, wood floor, dark inside.  But, this was one of the few places that lets dogs in on Sunday afternoons!   When I arrived, there were already 3 Poms there.   They are all so cute!  Of course, none were parti-colored like Mia!

Poms at the Meetup

About 10 Poms I think ended up being there, including Connor, a tiny baby Pom.  This little guy ran up to everyone and played with all the Poms.   Mia loves playing with her brothers, but wasn’t really into playing with the Poms.  Not sure why.   But, we stayed about an hour and I think she had a good time.    I will still definitely take her to some more meetups – I just love seeing all the Poms!

Connor the baby Pom

Little Mia

Mia is such a character! I gave the boys a treat of Merrick Flossies (the dried beef tendons…mmm mmm good!).

They are too big (about 8″ long) and hard for Mia to chew on, so I gave her another treat. Well, Shelby immediately started working on his, but Bandit had learned his lesson. He had had his food stolen before, and had a plan. He started to walk around the house with it in his mouth, pausing at the door. I knew he wanted to go out, but it was really cold so I didn’t let him out immediately. So, he wandered around again, and went to the door and looked at me.   I finally gave in and let him out, thinking that he wanted to be alone and eat his prize.  Well, I did some chores, and Bandit started barking to come in.  I don’t exactly know long it was, but I just assumed he had eaten it, as Shelby was nearly done with his.

Well, after a while, they all wanted to go outside as usual, so I let them out.   When I let them back in, Mia whisked by me, but I noticed she had something in her mouth….it was about 8″ long, curly, and covered with snow.   As she took it to her hiding place under the bed, I realized it was Bandit’s Flossie!   Instead of eating it, Bandit had buried it for later, but obviously, did not hide it very well!   Mia was already in hiding, and Bandit was searching outside in the snow for his missing Flossie!

After I got everyone in, I traded Mia the Flossie for a Frosty Paws ice cream treat, gave Bandit back his Flossie, and gave Shelby another small one so that there would be no fighting.   So, the evening ended peacefully…but I won’t forget Mia trotting happily to her cave, with the treat nearly as long as her body in her mouth!

This was my last trip to West Virginia….it is actually kind of sad in a way.    I really grew to love that state and the people in it.   Even though I was there for work, I lived in an apartment there 2-3 weeks out of every month in 2008, so I really got to know the area.

Mia on her new bed in WV

Because I was closing up the apartment, I only took Mia with me this time and I boarded the boys at the Yorkville Animal Hospital.   Mia is such a little sweetheart!   And a great traveller – except when she wanted to sit on my lap, which was the whole trip!   I tried to seatbelt her in for a while, but it was more fun to have her on my lap!

Her leg really seems to be doing well – when she walks around, she uses her leg fine.  When she runs sometimes, she still lifts it.  It is amazing how well it is healing!

Boy, this was the first time in a long time I had only one dog to take care of….I realize what a lot of work having all three really is!    But, though it is a challenge with the boys, I love them all dearly!

Sitting with Mia in the evenings, and just having her follow me around and look at me with that cute little face…I don’t know how anyone cannot love dogs!

Well, it took me much longer than I thought to pack up all my stuff from WV…boy, I sure had a lot of crap there!   But, I finally left late a.m. and got back home around 8:00 p.m.

Little Mia

Little Mia…my eight pound pomeranian.    I will put in more details when I put together an individual page on her, but for now, I want to talk about her recent surgery.   

On Saturday, January 10, Mia tangled with Zoe, my friend Lilia’s 110 pound black lab….and Mia lost.    I came home from a seminar to find Lilia – who had come over with the good intentions of letting all three pups out to play.    Mia was nowhere to be found.    She told me that Mia had started barking at Zoe, and it quickly escalated.   Lilia said she threw her body over Zoe and Mia ran into the house to her hiding place under the bed.    When I returned and Lilia told me what had happened, we did not know the extent of Mia’s injuries.    When I reached under the bed, Mia bit me – something she would just never do.   Lilia said Mia had bit her as well.    I put on gloves and was able to get Mia out – though she was biting the whole time.   After bringing her into the living room and holding her, there were no visible signs of injury.    But the look in her eye was telling – it was blank.    I put her down and noticed that she lifted her left rear leg up, and though I moved it, she did not indicate she was in any pain.  Lilia and I did not know what to do, so we decided to take her to the emergency vet. 

After a trip to the VCA Animal Hospital, xrays revealed that Mia’s hip had come out of its socket.     The doctor said that they would anethesize her and manipulate the hip back into its socket – but there would be no guarantee that it would stay.   Surgery would be the only option.

After I picked her up Sunday, it was pretty obvious that after a short while, she was raising her leg and favoring it.    I took Mia to the new animal hospital in Yorkville on Monday, and scheduled her for surgery on Wednesday.

The surgery was called FHO – femoral head ostectemy, which is the same surgery they do for dogs with hip displaysia.   It involved actually cutting off the head of the femor and sewing up the muscle creating a false joint.  Yuck!  So I picked her up on Thursday after the surgery and her little leg was all shaved and had a 3″ incision with stitches!   But Mia was back to her old self – perky and cute!   Only problem – I was supposed to keep her still with limited movement for 28 days…..

It is now a little over a week after the surgery.   Mia seems to be healing, but keeping her quiet and still has been a challenge!   She has jumped onto and off of the couch a few times….I hope she is o.k.   She will get her stitches out next Friday.