Author Archives: Margret Abbott

Bess and Her “Lady” Surgery

Bess went in this past Monday to have her “lady” surgery. Surgery went well and she did just fine. When I called the next afternoon to see what time I could pick her up they said she was doing a lot of vomiting, more than usual. The vet tech said that while she could technically come home since the medicine for nausea seemed to be helping, it would really be better for her to stay so she could be monitored for one more night. So that’s what we did. I called the next morning and was told that she had eaten both supper and breakfast and that it had stayed down so we could bring our kinda of bouncy pup home.

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Heading Home

Greg, who was at work, met us at home to take Bess in the house. Our girl weighs 65 lbs and although she is learning to listen while on leash it still can be a challenge to get her attention when she is faced with an exciting world outside and wants to go in another direction than the one she needs to go in. For her safety she needed someone with a bit, ok a lot more muscle than I have.

Once she was settled we let Bonnie and Belle in to welcome her home.

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Belle was a little disgruntled until she realized that under all the hospital smells was her little pesky sister. Of course after the sniff fest was over all three pups decided that some rough housing was in order. Since that’s #1 on Bess’s “do not do” list I put Bonnie and Belle out in the pup pen for awhile. Bess in the meantime followed me around when I was up doing things she was antsy when I was sitting and quiet she would lay down and watch me.

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Knowing that she needed sleep I took a cup of coffee and a book and curled up quietly in the living room. She first took a nap across the room then came over and curled up next to me, her toys never too far away from her.

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Greg came home a little while later and our evening of guessing what Bess needed, and reassuring Bonnie and Belle began.

After she at her supper Bess’s tummy was upset again although she only threw up once much later the evening. She was anxious, and antsy with Greg and I taking turns taking her out to potty. Bess finally crashed into a much needed sleep on the kitchen floor. After she woke up it was time for another trip outside then I put her in her crate with some toys for the night. I slept on the couch to be close by in case she needed anything but she slept through the night.

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Why can’t I go out and dig up that scrumptious thing I smell? Why?

We’ve already been out this morning and She and I have had a discussion on why she still has to stay very quiet today. She clearly doesn’t agree with me.

Bess is to stay very quiet for the next two days. Then for four more days she can have some more activity but is to continue to be crated when we aren’t with her and no rough housing at all. The second week of her two week stint of recovery she can have more activity and can go back to normal activity once her stitches are out.

If she continues to leave her incision alone she won’t have to wear the “cone of royalty” we have just in case. I don’t like the name cone of shame and since it’s also known as an Elizabethan collar in our home it’s been renamed the cone of royalty. Thank you to my sister in law Barb and niece Abby for the research behind that name change. 🙂

We appreciate the thoughts, encouragement and prayers for Bess especially earlier in the week when she wasn’t able to come home as planned. We would appreciated your prayers and thoughts as our bouncy girl continues to recover.

I tend to update our Three Pups and a Couple of Kitties Facebook page more frequently. If you haven’t done so I invite you to like our page for the most updated news.

Posted by Margret Abbott. Categories: Golden Retrievers. Tags: Golden Retrievers, Pets. 4 Comments

Dec. ’15

Christmas Day and Polite Greeting

“We did it!” After years, simply years, (well at least it felt like it) of practicing polite greeting we were able to come in and join the party!

There were so many people someone was always petting us, which was just fine with us!

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Bess, getting all kinds of attention Abby and Barb

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The pups sitting pretty for Aunt Marge. “We just know she’s going to give us a treat!”

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Belle hanging out with Jim

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Bonnie having some one on one time with Aunt Marge.

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Having fun with Nancy, Jim, Mike and Abby

The surprise of the day came when we heard a quiet meow and my Margret went out to the kitchen to find Mike talking to “I love living in the basement where it’s quiet” Lucy kitty. Then a short time later Lucy was back in the kitchen talking to Jim. To hear my Margret and my Greg talk about it that was awesome and huge even bigger than all of us joining the party and let me tell you that was pretty big in itself!

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Mike, the Lucy whisperer

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Jim also the Lucy whisperer.

We still have some practicing to do. We, especially Bess, what are you going to do she’s still pretty young, were a bit bouncy when we first met people but it didn’t last long. Then there was that time that I really needed to have some quiet time, my Margret noticed and opened the door so I could go out in our pup pen. People get pretty noisy sometimes, I didn’t know that before. All in all though we had a really fun day. That night my Margret said to my Greg, ” I bet they’ll sleep good tonight!” I wonder what gave her that idea?

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Bess and Linus

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Bonnie

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Belle

Oh well *yawn* I’ll figure it out later. Until next time, this is Belle signing off for the Pups and Kitties.

Posted by Margret Abbott. Categories: Cats, Christmas, Golden Retrievers, Pets, polite greeting, Relationships. Tags: Cats, Christmas, Golden Retrievers, Polite Greeting, Relationships. 8 Comments

Dec. ’15

The Gotta Go Chime

Several years ago our daughter shared that she trained their dog Sadie to ring a bell when she needed to go outside. So when Bonnie and Belle joined our family I decided that we would see if that would work for them. It did and the “gotta go” chime was born. The pups have discovered many uses for the chime.

Belle will routinely ring it right when we sit down to supper. She always gently touches her nose to the chime then patiently waits facing the door for us to open it for her.

Bess refuses to ring it, she instead will either have a sister ring it for her or will come and stand by me with an intense look on her face until I ask her to “show me”. 9 times out of 10 she will lead me to the pup porch door. The 10th time she wants a belly rub!

Bonnie is the champion bell ringer. She rings it when she wants to distract us so she can peruse the table or counter. She rings it when Belle and Bess are waiting by the door to be let back in. She rings it whenever there is something interesting to explore outside. She will also ring it when she wants a treat. We can tell this is what she wants because she rings the bell then turns to look at the treats then she’ll look at us. Finally she will ring the gotta go chime when she needs to go outside. Bonnie’s method is to ring the bell then turn and look to see if we are coming. If we are moving too slowly she will put her head into the middle of the chime and give a full headshake instead of the usual nose touch. Let me tell you sometimes those chimes go flying of their hook.

Greg and I totally understand that we are bell trained but that’s ok. It works for us and gives us another glimpse into our pups personalities.

Oh yeah, Linus kitty the wanna be Golden Retriever also rings the bell in his endless quest to go outside. Sorry Buddy, good try but it won’t work!

Posted by Margret Abbott. Categories: Golden Retrievers. 4 Comments

Nov. ’15

Pup Pictures Starring Stinker Belle

We don’t have any photos with Greg and I and the pups, today that was remedied. What I envisioned as a lovely photo in reality was well…real, really, really real. It turns out that it wasn’t Bouncy Bess that was the challenge but Belle the Stinker otherwise known from this day forward as Stinker Belle.

Many thanks to Jon and Hanson for their patience with us and our pups as they worked to take the best picture possible.

From left to right Bess, Bonnie, Belle

If I close my eyes can I pretend I’m not there?

Wait I want the treat now!

Left to Right Bess, Belle, Bonnie

Bess, I’m going, you with me?

I’m Done!

It’s good of the pups…*sigh*

Bess, Bonnie, Belle

Posted by Margret Abbott. Categories: Golden Retrievers. 7 Comments

Nov. ’15

Lucy and Bess Update

After several days of not much happening u’m I mean transitioning I decided to cuddle Lucy and stand at the doorway between the front room where Lucy likes to hang out (when she isn’t upstairs) and the living room. There is a child gate in the doorway which the pups could just about step over but they don’t seem to realize that and frankly I hope they never do.

Anyway, Lucy and I hung out in the doorway while Bess barked and barked and barked and barked and …. Lucy cuddled into me, wasn’t frightened and actually was purring. I wish I had an extra hand so I could have taken photos of Bess while she play bowed, barked to the left, barked to the right, cocked her head ect. it was quite the show. She occasionally would turn to look at her sisters for backup while they pretended they weren’t there, in fact Belle went to the kitchen to ring the “gotta go chime” so she could go outside. Needless to say that summons went unanswered. so we now had the twinkling of a wind chime mixed in with the barking.

After several minutes of this Lucy and I stepped over the child gate and into the living room. Lucy became agitated at that point so I quickly stepped back into the front room where she jumped down and ran to the back of the room. I took Bess out to the pup pen and went back to get Lucy to bring her back into the living room but Bonnie and Belle who know much better decided that they wanted to play and Lucy clearly didn’t. Back to the front room she went. After letting Bonnie and Belle out to the pup pen I went back got Lucy and brought her into the dining room. After some cuddling and soft talking she said “thank you very much but I want to go back to my space” so that’s what we did

All in all I think it went great. Lucy gave Bess the “I am the head of the 4 footed family members and you will respect me.” look and Bess is starting to understand what her sisters learned a long time ago. We will give it another try later this weekend but we are making headway!

Posted by Margret Abbott. Categories: Anxiety, Cats, Golden Retrievers. Tags: anxiety, Cats, Golden Retrievers. 4 Comments

Nov. ’15

One Year Ago Today…

We met and brought home our Bess Pup

She quickly found the toy box

Met her sisters Bonnie and Belle, who clearly didn’t know what to think about this new bundle of energy.

Bess was introduced to Linus under Belle’s careful eye.

They soon became friends.

From the beginning Bess was determined to keep up with her big sisters.

Just like her sisters, Bess went to school to learn manners and how to be a good pup.

Bess is a bouncy loving pup and it’s been a blast watching her personality develop this past year.

Over this past year Bess has changed from a bouncy, barky alligator jawed puppy to obeying “leave it” and “give” commands even when she really, really doesn’t want to. She is learning the joy of sleeping in on the weekends. (Thank you pup!) She is starting to realize how much fun it is to cuddle. She is learning compassion and will quietly lay beside someone in an effort to bring them comfort. She is starting to learn that when she wants me to get up out of bed that means she has to stop standing on me so I can get up.

Bess will show us what she wants, by following the “show me what you want” command. Sometimes it’s to go outside, other times she wants a tummy rub. She still loves her stuffie toys and usually has at least one and most likely two or more in her mouth at one time. She is always up for an adventure and continues to be our bouncy Bess. I can’t wait to see what this next year brings.

Posted by Margret Abbott. Categories: British Cream Golden Retrievers. Tags: british cream golden retrievers. 6 Comments

Oct. ’15

Lucy Kitty Making Headway

When I came downstairs this morning I saw this.

Lucy

Lucy was in the dining room on top of the buffet.

Then she saw Greg and did this

Greg and Lucy

Bess did notice Lucy when she was cuddling with Greg and of course did the bouncy bark thing but with several “leave it’s” and the shake of the treat bag Bess obeyed and went outside for a bit.

We are definitely making headway!

Posted by Margret Abbott. Categories: Golden Retrievers, Kitties. Tags: Golden Retrievers, Kitties. 2 Comments

Oct. ’15

Lucy Kitty and Barky Bess

Last night when it was time for bed I took down the child gate from the stairway door, Bess ran up with me and low and behold there was Lucy kitty sitting on the stairway ledge. Bess luckily didn’t see her and I was able to get Bess to go back downstairs. It’s amazing what a burst of energy and an excited voice will do to get a pup to obey. With Bess downstairs and the stairway door closed I scooped Lucy up and took her downstairs where I was hoping the pups were otherwise occupied. Um, yeah so I quietly opened the door and there are all three pups staring at us. Bess barked, Lucy clawed to get down and shot up the stairs with Bess in close pursuit followed by Bonnie and Belle and me saying “Leave it Bess Leave It!”

Lucy ran and hid under the bed with the pups Bess of course in the lead, running around the bed barking trying to get closer to Lucy. I managed to get the pups out of the bedroom and closed the door. I then called to Lucy, who from under the bed immediately started to tell me how she felt about all of this came out from under the bed, let me pick her up and snuggled close purring all the while. I simply held her for a few minutes, then I wrapped her up in a sweater to try once again to get her downstairs. With Bess barking I tried to explain to Greg what had been happening and he was able to get the dogs into our bedroom while I got Lucy out.

Once downstairs Lucy jumped out of my arms and ran into the front room. When I went back upstairs I told the pups it was now bedtime and time to settle down. It took a bit but they finally did.

This morning I went out to the front room where Lucy greeted me and seemed calm. The pups were out in their pen so I carried her to her spot on the desk in front of the computer but she wasn’t ready yet and went back into the front room and that’s ok. We’re taking this slow, we don’t have a choice in that because that’s how Lucy needs it to go. All in all we are making headway, Lucy isn’t nearly as upset as she would have been a few days ago. Bess even though she is barky and bouncy is listening and does “leave it” when we tell her to, well after hearing it a couple of times. So we’re getting there and that’s encouraging.

Posted by Margret Abbott. Categories: British Cream Golden Retrievers, Cats, Golden Retrievers. Tags: british cream golden retrievers, Cats, Golden Retrievers. 3 Comments

Oct. ’15

Lucy Kitty Update and Belle News

Operation convince Lucy to stay out of the basement is going pretty well. She is content in the front room when the pups are in the house and occasionally has been going upstairs to hang out on the steps. She is vocal again and enjoys telling us about her day when the pups are in their pup pen. She even kept me company yesterday while I was taking a bath. All behaviors that she used to show us so I think we are on the right track.

The best news of all, yesterday I forgot to close the door to the basement and sure enough she went down to the basement, I was sad about this and was kicking myself that I had forgotten to close the door when low and behold up she comes from the basement. We are making headway!

In Belle news I posted on the Three Pups and a Couple of Kitties Facebook Page that Bonnie and Belle had their annual vet visit and Bonnie weighed in at 63 lbs. and was healthy as could be. Belle weighed in at 76 lbs. and has the beginnings of another ear infection. We found out that dogs that have been spade tend to put on weight as they don’t use up energy dealing with those pesky hormones that none spade dogs do. So we are to cut her food intake down to help her lose the 5-10 lbs. that will help her be healthier, especially important since she has hip dysplasia, and give her back her “tuck” in her tummy.

Luckily she already eats in the dining room while Bonnie and Bess eat in the kitchen so we simply put up a child gate in the doorway between the dining room and kitchen until all three pups are finished eating. The dr. wasn’t worried about the training treats we give the pups.

The vet also told me about a study Purina did following dogs throughout their lives and it was discovered that on a scale from 1 being all bone to 9 being the fattest a dog can be, the new optimal number is 3-4 instead of 5. If a dog is slightly on the thin side they are living up to 2 years longer than the rest. Although our vet stressed instead of numbers to look for a rib cage you can feel but not see, a backbone you can feel but not see and never should you see a dog’s hip bones. The tummy tuck is when you look down on a dog’s back and it slightly tapers in by their tummy. So we are on a new quest to help our Belle retain her girlish figure.

I appreciate our veterinary clinic and our vet for taking the time to answer our questions so we can better help our pup. Oh and yep she is back on ear drops for that pesky ear infection.

That’s all for now. Have a happy Sunday everyone!

Posted by Margret Abbott. Categories: Cats, Golden Retrievers. Tags: Cats, Golden Retrievers, overweight dogs. 3 Comments

Oct. ’15

Operation Convience Lucy Kitty To Stay Out Of The Basement Day 1

So this morning as I was getting ready to leave for work I hear a faint meow that seemed to come from outside. No, wait could it possibly be coming from the basement? I went to look and there at the bottom of the basement stairs was our Lucy Kitty. As I knelt down and called to her, she quickly came up the stairs and into my arms where I snuggled her for several minutes while she told me all about the past few days.

In an effort to help Lucy become used to being with us and out of the basement I closed the basement door so she couldn’t go back down while we were at work. She had access to the front room that is separated from the living room by a child gate and the upstairs door was open and blocked by a child gate as well. Which means for her purposes when the pups are in the house those are pup free zones so in time Lucy will realize she has places that she can feel safe in.

When Greg came home from work he cuddled and petted Lucy for about 30 minutes before bringing the pups in from their pup pen. When I came home I went out to the front room to pet her and say hi. She seemed relaxed and calm.

After supper I went back out to the front room and gently wrapped Lucy in a towel, and while cradling her in my arms walked closer to the front room door where she could see the pups, the pups could see her but not get to her. The entire time I was petting her and talking quietly to her Greg was telling Bouncy Bess to “leave it” when she really, really wanted to greet Lucy. After a few minutes I put Lucy down and she retreated to the far end of the front room to the top of the futon. I went into the living room and congratulated Bess for being a very good girl.

About 15 minutes later I went back out to Lucy, wrapped her up again and brought her into the living room where both Lucy and Bess did well. You’ll have to use your imagination as I was too busy to take pictures but Bess really wanted to play with Lucy, but she obeyed and although she kept asking Greg “if he was sure she couldn’t play with Lucy, even if she sat?” Bess obeyed which is awesome! Lucy purred and stayed pretty relaxed which was also awesome. I moved from place to place in the living room with Lucy eventually taking her back out to the front room. Once again I told both Lucy and Bess they did well and were good girls.

Tomorrow night we’ll try again and who knows Lucy and I might even get to sit down.

Posted by Margret Abbott. Categories: Golden Retrievers, Kitties. Tags: Golden Retrievers, Kitties. 3 Comments