Sage the Savage: 4 month update

It's hard for me to believe that my little Sage monkey is 4 1/2 months old. I feel the last few months have flown by at lightening speed. When both Cleo and Luna were pups I found myself just waiting for the stress of the puppy months to be a distant memory (the teething, the potty training, and unruliness). With Sage I'm hanging on to every nano second that she is still a puppy. Third time around you undoubtedly appreciate how short lived those fanciful puppy months are.  They have a lifetime to be the dogs they quickly become but only a short time to be rambunctious pups.

It's clear though that her puppyhood is coming to an end. Sage is getting huge. Last Saturday at the vet she tipped the scales a 35lbs! That's 5lbs more than Luna weighed at this age and more than half of Cleo's current weight. Sage is going to be a big girl! A trait she clearly inherited from her daddy VC Sharp Shooters Doc Holliday.

Keeping her gigantic pup paws off the counter has been a constant battle. She is hands down the most food motivated puppy I have ever seen. Every time we open the fridge door, a cabinet or the pantry she materializes out of thin air and puts on her best begging show. She also doesn't discriminate.  I'm pretty sure she would eat anything we offered her. One of her favorite foods hands down are fresh green beans (just like her Momma). Luna is not a fan of veggies but will take one begrudgingly just so she's not left out. Luna wishes bacon grew on trees.

 No one be alarmed! It's Jim shoe so its OK. ;)

Sage is a wild woman. Not quite to Luna "hell puppy" status but then again not many dogs can get to that level. Luna has left a legacy and some very big shoes to fill....or eat. With that said Sage is doing her best to leave her imprint. She gets into plenty of things she shouldn't and is never even remotely apologetic about it. Which certainly is par for the course.

Running down the big dogs!

Oh how the tables have turned little dog

In the last few weeks she has earned the nickname "Savage". Sage has a touch of alpha in her and her most favorite thing in the world is some good old fashioned wrestling. Last week in the yard I watched her take down Luna and later in a moment of complete insanity she drug her mom Queen Cleo to the ground. That is by no means an easy feat and the result was as an entertaining ass kicking from Momma. I guess she never learned the lesson don't try to dance with the old man (or your mom) unless your absolutely ready. And just like her mother she talks, snarls and growls the entire time she plays making her sound like Cujo. Cleo is vocal dog and this is just how they play but to others I'm sure they think Sage is well....Savage.

                    If synchronized sleeping was an Olympic sport they would take gold

Momma Baby Snugs

Although she can be barbaric during playtime Sage has to be the sweetest most endearing pup. Whens she's ready for downtime she will come and paw at Jim or I to let us know she's ready to snuggle. I'll go sit on the couch and she will jump up, nest in my lap, lay her head on my neck and promptly fall asleep. She loves to be touched, cuddled and held. If she can't occupy our laps she snugs in as tight as Cleo and Luna will allow. She is a lover to the core. When we nap together she lays her head across my neck and chest or if she's cold she rests on my hip under the covers. I love holding her and can't get enough of her love. I think Aunt Luna feels the same way and has opted to give up her mornings sleeping in with me to chew faces and play with Sage Monkey.

Her field training has been coming along superbly. She runs great, uses her nose and is pointing. I couldn't possibly be more happy. She is responding to my whistle and shows me little glimpses of the future and the amazing hunter she is destined to be. Handling her myself has been a blast and the thought of getting to watch her develop over this summer in preparation for our trip to North Dakota this fall has me pumped! Although I'm not so sure Cleo and Luna love the extra time I get out and spend with her in the field.

We've also been training with a good portion of the pups from Cleo's litter. I'll do a blog post later this month showing some of their progress in the field as well. In the meantime follow us on facebook at Adventures of a German Shorthaired Pointer.

Bird Hunter Problems

What exactly are bird hunter problems? Well BHP's typically afflict those that prefer to spend their free time chasing elusive birds such as but not limited to grouse, pheasants, ducks, geese, quail, woodcock ect. This same group has been known to have a propensity towards bourbon, fine fire arms and in most situations would prefer to be in the sanctity of the outdoors than anywhere else. They are inherently good folks  who after purchasing hunting dogs found themselves buying trucks, truck caps, custom kennels, kayaks, pigeon lofts, racing pigeons, expensive shotguns, remote bird traps, engraved whistles.....and as such through no fault of their own they leave themselves vulnerable to ridiculous situations the rest of the population never seem to find themselves in. At some point in the vortex of my life I went from "I may have problems" to crap....."I have Bird Hunter Problems". The following scenario is prime example of the situations that can only occur in our lives.

This meme has nothing to do with the ensuing story but it makes 

me laugh. I salute whoever made this. 

Allow me to the set the stage. I'm leaving the gym on my lunch break from work this past Friday and Jim calls.

Ring Ring! (That's my best-worst impersonation of my cell phone ringing which isn't a good impersonation at all because its always on vibrate. BUT lets all play along. It's more fun that way).

Ring Ring!

Me: Hey Jimbo!
Jim: Hi Baby! (This is a good time for me to note that Jim normally replies "Hey Rob!". And his use of "Baby" is an immediate indication he's been involved in or orchestrated some amount of tomfoolery).
Me: Uh huh.....What's happening?
Jim: We kinda have a problem. (Shocking Jimbo, Shocking)
Me: Like what kind of problem?
Jim: Some of the pigeons got out of their pen.

See we HAD a pigeon coop in the backyard. But Cleo and Luna couldn't handle one being on the property. They would obsess and bark and do everything they could to get to the coop. It got to the point that we have been forced to move the pigeons (when we occasionally have them) into the hidden safety of our garage. Yea....not ideal but its probably way better for them in the long run. Cool in the summer. Warm in the winter. No mouthy shorthairs barking obscenities at them. It's a regular old flying rat resort here. Now back to our conversation.

Me: Seriously? How did that happen?
Jimbo: The latch must not have been put on tight. (Ummmm no one opened the latch but you Jimbo....but I digress)
Me: So like how many pigeons are we talking?
Jimbo: Um....15 maybe?

See our ranch styled home was built in the early 1970's so at the time a full firewall (meaning one that goes from the floor to the interior roof line) between the garage and the house was not required. Since purchasing the house four years ago it's always been on the list to put one in. But we opted to gut the interior and spend ample time bringing the outside up to date. So in an essence there is no barrier at an attic level between our garage and our attic. Wonder where the pigeons flew off too!?!?!?!!

Me: So...where are the pigeons now. (Legit passive aggressive rhetorical question).
Jimbo: Well you know......
**Awkward Silence**
Jimbo: I'll need your help tonight
**Awkward Silence**
Me: (Smashing my face into my steering wheel) Ok honey. Can't wait.

 This is Jim catching loose pigeons in the attic (by crawling around with a fishing net and a flashlight) and then handing them down to me to put back in their pen. He's laughing because I'm determined to document this since no one will ever believe me otherwise. (And yes...sadly were sober). #birdhunterproblems

Want some more bird hunter problems? Feel free to check this ridiculous post out: The Unseen Dangers of Duck Work.

And be sure to follow our shenanigans on facebook by liking us at Adventures of a German Shorthaired Pointer.

Sage's First Chukar at 12 weeks!

We've had such an AWFUL winter this year in the northeast. It's been a constant barrage of snow and ice storms. As a native Pennsylvanian, people here are ready to tar and feather that jerk groundhog Punxsutawney Phil because this is clearly all his fault. For those of you not accustomed to weird Pennsylvanian traditions which you should all be because Harold Ramis (may he rest in peace) made a hilarious movie called Groundhog Day staring Bill Murray in 1993. In that movie Bill Murray is forced to live Groundhog day over and over and over which is what this winter feels like. It's never frigging ending. But anyway for all of you who may live under rocks if our boy Phil sees his shadow, which he did this year, were doomed to 6 more weeks of winter. Because basing weather predictions on a stinky land beaver isn't weird at all. But anyway you cut it it's still snowing and the ice is still not melting and were still not working birds or hunting as much as we should be. Which is sad. And disappointing. I hate you extra worst than normal winter.

So this past weekend we escaped the PA snow and traveled to the Mills in NJ to join Bob Gelder and a group of his puppies to work them on some chukars. Bob owns Shore Shot GSP's in Ocean County, NJ and had a litter out of his VC female Bonnie 2 1/2 weeks before Cleo whelped her litter. Bob also owns Cleo and Luna's sire Max so all the puppies that were there were half siblings to our big girls which made it even more exciting to see them in action. I think Bob invited us because he knew I'd go crazy if we didn't get Sage out on some birds. Bob is a good friend.

It's like Ghostbusters....don't cross the streams (or leads in this case)

When we got there is was PUPPY OVERLOAD!! There were 6 or 7 puppies from Bonnie and Max's litter! Sage had a blast rolling in the dirt and sand with those pups. It was fantastic from a socialization standpoint and I swear it was the first time Sage has touched anything other than ice or snow in 5 weeks. She was loving every second of it.

I see you Chukar!!!

YEHAW!!!!

WHAT!?! Where are you going?

When it was time to get her out we threw out a chukar and just let her chase it trying to develop some drive in her. When she finally chased it down and got close enough it would hide and you could see her using her nose to locate it. She would flash point it a bit before eventually pouncing. She would pick it up and carry it for a bit. Another throw of the chukar would send her tearing off through the woods. She did an AWESOME job at 12 weeks of age. I think we will do this with her one more time and then transition into not allowing her to have the bird and start popping some pigeons.

Feathers are the new milk mustache

When Sage Monkey was done with her chukar Jimbo took the big girls out and ran them in a nearby field. After they were out about 5 minutes I took Sage up to the edge of the field to see if she wanted to run a bit. When we arrived Momma Cleo who was half a field away stopped dead in her tracks and looked hard in our direction. She took off towards us shifting through her gears and when she arrived she greeted Sage with tail wagging enthusiasm. She leaned in and touched her nose to Sage's nose and I could almost hear her say, come on kid lets go! And off they went with Sage running as fast her rabbit hoppy back legs could go. Momma Cleo and Auntie Luna ran her far across the field and Jim and I stood there together in awe with a feeling of real contentment. This is going to be the best summer ever.

Check back and follow our shenanigans on facebook at Adventures of a German Shorthaired Pointer.

Pupdate: And Then There Was One and She was Wild

GSP Sandwich

Five weeks ago 7 of Cleo's 8 puppies headed home to begin their lives with their new families. That weekend was met with mixed emotions from Jim and I. The last two nights the entire pack was together Jim and I got uncharacteristically sentimental. We knew every second we had with them we had to make them count. Hugs were extra long, puppy kisses were even more cherished and when they transitioned into wild little devil dogs we laughed a little harder. When the weekend was over I took some extra solace in a glass of wine or two (in reality, if were being honest that's probably a gross under estimate.....don't throw stones people). We loved each and every one of those pups SO MUCH. But they have all been placed with the most amazing hunting families and we couldn't possibly be more pleased. And when it was all said and done and the dust finally settled there was one pup left and she is ours....and she is a flippin wild woman.

Sage Monkey

Sage is a free spirited trouble maker. She's not nearly to hell puppy level....yet. But in her defense we've had nothing but snow for weeks so she really hasn't had the opportunity to live up to Luna's hell puppy  Legend. I have no doubts that she will spawn some tall tales on this blog. 

She has moments when she is mellow and then moments when she is an absolute friggin handful. All sharp pointy puppy teeth and her mothers back talking Sass. She runs hard for hours at a time and then crumbles into a lap to snuggle and sleep. We are more relaxed with her than we ever were with Cleo or Luna. The third time down this path were not even remotely phased by anything she can throw at us. In fact we are incredibly entertained and loving every single minute of it. There is this line from the movie Parenthood that came out in 1989 with Steve Martin and Keanu Reeves when Mary Steenburgen's character says, "It's because he was our first. I mean, I think we were very tense when Kevin was little. If he got a scratch, we were hysterical. By the third kid, you know, you let them juggle knives." Or in our case toilet paper rolls. 

She's incredibly aware and smart for her age. We hope its a sign of good things to come especially in the field. If we would get rid of this never ending snow we'd be spending way more time outside with her. But good things come to those who wait (that is such horseshit btw....I WANT THE SNOW GONE....it's making me mental).

Cleo had enough of Sage's crap. She dug a hole with Aunt Lulu's 

help and they stuffed her in there. 

She LOVES battling her mother and testing her patience every single second she can, which feels incredibly vindicating for the years of torture Cleo has put me through. Now she has a savage little clone to push her buttons. Muhahahahaha! On the other hand Luna is her beloved snuggle buddy and they are constantly sharing dog cave snugs. Sage is also consistently trying to "share" (AKA Steal) her bones which has gone over like a lead balloon with Aunt Lu. Sage is the most food motivated puppy I have ever seen. She comes running the second she hears the refrigerator doors open, or when we open the cabinet that holds their doggie treats. She watches intently when I cook dinner and some how managed to steal an oven mitt the other night. Go figure how she pulled that off. 

Doesn't make you just want to climb in there with them!?

Puppy sleepy time

She's a gem of a puppy and we are completely smitten with her. And were excited to take you all along for the ride as she grows with us and our pack. Check back and follow our shenanigans on Facebook at Adventures of a German Shorthaired Pointer!

Cleo and Pupdate: 7 Weeks old and Counting

Orange and Mini Doc

Let me fill you in incase you don't know already...when GSP puppies reach 6 weeks of age (specifically Cleo and Doc puppies) you start questioning if they are part Velociraptor. All of their cute and whimsical innocence has left them and has been unequivocally replaced with hell raising, whelping room destroying, spotted leg biters. Jim came home last week and they had somehow used their black voodoo magic to separate the two connected whelping boxes and spilled out into the whelping box room to reek as much havoc as possible. They spent approximately 2 hours shredding bags of stockpiled newspaper, emptied a full box of black hefty trash bags and played tug of war with them and oh did I mention....they shit everywhere? Take that lightly colored beige carpet! They worked with doody like some artists work in watercolor. The boxes are now reinforced with ridiculous don't fail me now industrial clamps and we've also bought stock in Stanley Steamer.

Periwinkle

The pups personalities are really starting to shine through. Periwinkle (black and roan female) has happily filled the Houdini role. At least once a day when one of us enters the whelping room she comes and meets us at the door. Yea....lets back that up. SHE COMES AND MEETS US AT THE DOOR. She should be in the whelping box with all the other pups but she somehow manages to escape ALL THE TIME. We've removed the whelping box rails and Jim built a special attachment to increase the height of the whelping box door but she still manages to get enough leverage to pull her chubby spotted belly over the wall. She has even now figured out to get back in once she's finished her self granted playtime. We know this because she never forgets to leave her calling card. Bet you can imagine what that is.

Sweet Green - Liver Roan Male

Although they are quite mischievous all the pups are incredibly loving. They love to be held and snuggled and each one gives excellent kisses. They respond amazingly well to a whistle and hearing one from Jim or I will send them barreling down the halls like a herd of elephants. We get them out of the whelping room 3 or 4 times a day to let them play and interact with Cleo and Luna around the house. It's been a blast to watch them experience new things and they soak up everything like little sponges. Cleo LOVES being with her puppies and will lay on the floor letting them chew on her face and ears. She pokes them with her paws and goats them into chasing her around the living room. She brings them toys to play with and wags her stubby little tail with furor.

Big Red - Black and Roan male

Blue Bear - Black and Roan Male

Purple - Liver and Roan Female

The pups coats have darkened considerably and they have been growing and packing on the weight. We haven't weighed them in a couple of days but I have no doubt that at 7 weeks old some of the males are close to tipping the scales at 12 pounds. I'm starting to think some of these pups are going to be absolutely huge when they go home in a week. At least two of the male pups will be pretty large in size maybe even Doc size! Only time will tell. They have been to the vet and received their first deworming and DHPP booster. Not one of them fussed or cried at the vets and Mini Doc seemed to love his banana flavored dewormer. I have a feeling he might be a food hound.

Yellow

We have also decided on who we are going to be keeping out of this litter. She is a black and roan female and wore the yellow collar. Her name will be Von Schonheits Across the Plains and we will call her Sage. Like all the pups she is very bold, super aware and maybe too intelligent for her own good but more than that I've developed a great emotional attachment to her. She also has a propensity for chewing on Jim's shoes and quite frankly after all the stuff of mine Cleo and Luna have destroyed over the years its high time I have my own minion. I mean its only fair right!? Besides I can't even begin to explain how excited I am for her to be my personal gun dog!!

Cleo Update!

Cleo is doing much better! At her most recent follow-up appointment they were able to express some nasty fluid from her infected mammary gland which showed she still has an infection. So she will be on antibiotics for another 3 weeks. She goes back next week for another checkup. You would never know it from her sassiness that she still has an infection. Her spirits are up and she's even giving me some barky back talk. This past sunday we even took her hunting.

Cleo on Point with Doc honoring while Jim and Geof flush the chukar

Considering that Cleo hadn't been out on birds since she was bred to Doc in September her fieldwork was spot on and she ran like she never had any health issues in the last few weeks. You can tell it did her soul good to get out and do what she was meant to do in life. It put a little extra bounce in her step and Jim and I finally breathed that we had our baby back. It was also awesome getting Cleo and Doc together for a little reunion. Luna was there as well as two more of Geof Ferrer's GSP's. We ran them two at a time and at the end of the hunt cut all 5 dogs loose at once. I can't begin to explain how nice it is to watch 5 well trained and finished dogs work together. Below are some pics from our chukar hunt at Bent Creek Preserve in Allentown, NJ.

Look at that face...LOVE!! VC Sharp Shooters Doc Holliday

VC Rahway River's Prince of Darkness on point with Luna honoring in the back

Luna doing what she does!

Cleo honoring Doc on point. She hated that skid plate but we wanted to protect her chest. 

Rahway Rivers She's So Fine honoring - Call name Sophie

Sophie on point with Cleo, Doc and Ozzie honoring. Luna is off to the left honoring as well.

Doc looking huge and handsome!

Just wanted to thank everyone again for the outpouring of support we recieved when Cleo got horribly ill. All the comments and well wishes really did my heart well. There is something to say about all of you for rallying around us when we needed your good vibes. Thank you.

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Our Experience with Canine Mastitis

This is not an easy post for me to write considering I'm still pretty emotionally raw from this past weeks occurrences. To be honest I really grappled with even sharing our experiences. Believe it or not I'm actually a pretty private person....sounds like a bunch of malarkey coming from a gal who keeps a blog on every little thing her hunting dogs do but I try to keep a good portion of our private life just that...private. I decided to share our story thus far for two reasons. The first being the frustration I felt when I tried to do online research to read about other people experiences with what we were going through and all I found was the same repetitive medical information. I hope that our story will be able to help someone if they ever find themselves in our situation. The second reason is Cleo and Luna have a pretty large and solid following and something doesn't feel right about leaving people who care about Cleo out of the loop. To those people I apologize for not including you all earlier and please trust me when I say there where many times when I really wanted to let you all know for the moral support I'm certain you would have offered. But the idea of playing this emotional roller coaster ride out publicly without certainty of Cleo's well being or future was entirely too much.

In case you don't know what Mastitis is it's a bacterial infection in the milk ducts of one or more mammary glands in lactating bitches. Mastitis affects humans, it's a huge issue in dairy cows and it can happen to other domestic animals such as sheep, goats, dogs and cats. In canines it can occur from a back up of milk from a nipple getting less use than other nipples, a sharp puppy nail or tooth can cause a cut which then can become infected, or the dog could have sustained a cut or opening another way allowing bacteria to get in, poor diet or poor hygiene and honestly sometimes it just happens.  Like many maladies Mastitis can occur to varying degrees from minor to extreme. Mastitis in a severe form can kill your dog. Cleo's case was more along the severe lines. Below is our story. I try to be as detailed as possible.

One week ago on Sunday, December 22nd Cleo became rather restless around midnight. Jimmy got up and took her outside to do her business. When they returned she settled down for a short period of time before she became restless again. Jimmy got up again with her and took her outside once more and then stayed with her while she nursed her pups. The pups had been introduced to solid foods 2 1/2 days prior but Cleo was still nursing whenever she wanted too or felt the need. I'd like to point out that Jim and I were incredibly diligent about keeping the whelping box clean and the puppies nails trimmed. Her diet was spot on and the puppies were using all nipples. When she finished we all returned to bed around 2am. Two hours later it was clear Cleo was in bad shape. She looked like a shell of her self. She had thrown up multiple times and began having severe diarrhea. I took her temperature and it was 104.2 degrees. I told Jim we needed to either call our vets emergency number now or get her to an emergency vet ASAP. We choose to call our vet at 5am four hours before they opened. Our vet called us back immediately and we had Cleo in her office by 5:30am. 5 1/2 hours from the first time she woke up. Her chest was not swollen or warm to the touch at this point.

Second visit on day one. Her chest is finally starting to swell

The vet gave her Sub Q Fluids, did X-rays and took a large panel of blood work and sent her home (we live less than 5 minutes from the vet) pending results. About two hours after we got home Cleo who was already being extraordinarily lethargic became almost catatonic. Her front breasts swelled considerably and became hot to the touch. We put hot compresses on her and tried to get two of the puppies to nurse on her front swollen breast. Neither one would so we tried the largest puppy in the litter and she did feed for a small amount of time before losing interest and going in search of a better nipple. I called out of work and then I called the vet back and she had us come right back in. It was clear that in a few short hours Cleo was on a landslide. They put in an IV, started antibiotics, took more x-rays, expressed the front breasts to see if the milk was clear and it was. In most mastitis cases the milk will be off color and pussy. This was not the case for us. The vet kept Cleo and sent me home to pace frantically. A few hours later the vet called me back. She was very concerned for Cleo and told me that I needed to get her to a board certified vet specialist about 40 minutes away. She said this was moving along too quickly and aggressively. They printed out all the results of the tests they had taken, emailed down copies of the x-rays and I was on my way. Cleo was in such bad shape I had to carry her to my truck once in the parking lot.

12 hours from walking into our vets office I was standing in the lobby of the Emergency vet. They took Cleo right back and had me meet with a vet. They immediately took a milk sample and worked rather vigorously at trying to milk her front swollen breast and after about 25 minutes they reported back to me that puss was finally expelling from it. The milk would later show she had two kinds of bacteria. I gave them a deposit of $1,200 and was sent home. It was a lonely and depressing ride. I called Jim and told him their wasn't enough bourbon in Bucks County to make me feel better.

From Jimmy's visit on Christmas Eve

The next day Jim went and visited her. He reported back that he felt she looked worse and even more swollen. The vets had her on a strong antibiotic called Merrem and were waiting for it to kick in. They told us her blood proteins had really dropped and that was of a concern.

On Christmas we went to visit her together and I was shocked when she was brought in. She looked horrendous. Her front chest into her leg was incredibly swollen (they said from the protein drop) and her breasts and abdomen were huge. She was in visible pain and discomfort. Worst when I had her lay down and I looked at her belly it looked like her nipple was about to abscess and she had two other dark spots. I asked the vet tech to bring us a doctor. I brought my concerns up to the vet and she agreed that they looked like they could abscess. She responded that she had yet to see Cleo since she had been admitted two days ago and was unsure if her current state had gotten worst. I was all, "YES! YES! It's much worst! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT". I'd like to note that the vet practice we took her to was very nice....and expensive. But my biggest gripe was every 10 hours she had a new vet (they employ 15 vets) and I never dealt with the same people. It seemed that every time I spoke to someone they were just getting acquainted with her case. Personally I felt it set us back a day and a half.

Cleo on Christmas blown up like a tick

One of the areas of concern

At 4pm Christmas Day a new vet came on shift and called me to say they felt they should do surgery to release some of the infection and that they would maybe put in tubes. At 7pm they performed the surgery and put in 3 tubes in hopes that drainage would prevent any abscesses from breaking through her skin. The day after Christmas I went and visited Cleo. The swelling she had in her breast area decreased by a 1/3. She was ecstatic at my arrival and wagged her little tail is painful glee while expending large amounts of bloody pus all over the place. I removed her cone and laid on the floor on a blanket of the visiting room and held her. She was very uncomfortable and her one front leg was swollen twice the size of the other one. When it came time for me to leave she became extremely distressed almost desperate. It hurt my heart to leave her and I sobbed the entire 40 minute ride home.

Cleo leaking like a sieve

The picture does not do the swelling justice

Such a sad pupper. :(

The next morning on Friday, December 27th five days after being at the emergency vet they called and told me she had three necrotic holes that broke through over night. One was on her nipple of the infected mammary gland and the other two were in her mid line. They measured 1cm, 1/2cm and 3mm to start. They would eventually get larger. The holes were now draining in addition to the tubes. It was like someone knocked the wind out of me. To make things worst they said after I left Cleo the day before she melted down like Chernobyl and they had to sedate her. They were now keeping her on anti-anxiety meds and that they could never tell me not to come and visit her but I might not want to visit as it was to much for her when I leave. It was the first time in a very long time that once I hung up and started crying I legitimately couldn't stop. For the record I'm no crying sap. Having a black little jaded heart has helped make me a successful fighter....mess with my dog and I transform into a blubbering pile of patheticness.

Luna picking up her Auntie Duties

Since I couldn't come visit I started calling every 5 or 6 hours for an update. It might sound like overkill but with all the staff shift changes and me not being able to see her to be her best advocate I felt I needed to at least stay in their ear. Saturday they felt she finally turned the corner. Her cultures finally came back and they switched her off the Merrem and put her on Baytril. They said as long as she was responding to the antibiotic change we could take her home on Sunday. They felt that at this point she would maybe do better at home in a less stressed environment. So today we went and brought our baby home. She still has her tubes in and is walking petri-dish but she is happy to be home with us and her pups.

How she looked tonight when we got her home. Our first belly inspection.

When we pulled in the driveway Jim got her out of the truck and she ran (as fast as a tubed sick dog can trot) to the back door were a squealing Luna greeted her through the glass. Lu was so amped up that when we tried to get in she locked us back out. Once in Cleo took off through the house and blasted the whelping room door open. I'm pretty sure that all she thought about this entire week was her puppies. She is less then pleased about not being able to get into the box with them.

In Cleo's absence the puppies continued to thrive and they are doing amazing at 4 1/2 weeks of age. We are very happy that is she is home with them and us. Not having Cleo threw off our entire family dynamic. Jim and I were heartbroken and felt like a ship without a rudder. Luna was depressed having never been without her for more than a few hours her entire life. I dare even say the cats missed her. No...that's probably not true. Cats never miss anyone.

Oh we see you back there little man trying to hide in the Christmas presents

Where we currently stand with Cleo is we need the tubes to finish moving the puss and ooze. The necrotic holes will hopefully close on there own. If they don't they will trim them up and stitch them closed. Hopefully the infection and lumpy swelling will come down in that mammary gland. If it does not then we move onto phase two which is a mastectomy of that front mammary gland.  Our Mastitis journey is not quite finished yet but at least we are on the up and up and she is still with us. I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a very dark time in this last week when thought we might lose her. It's been a long and exhausting week and were looking forward to making some progress on her recovery and life getting back to normal. We also need to find a way to get Luna to stop being freaked out by Cleo's cone. Only Hell Puppy I swear. Anyway, you readers and facebook followers have become an extended family for us and we thank you for your well wishes and support.

Please follow our shenanigans on facebook at Adventures of a German Shorthaired Pointer.