Hi Old Friends

 Anyone still active in this dog-blog community?!  If you’re on other social media’s, let me know in the comments💜 

Orion This Morning

Do you really have to go to work, mom?!

Long Overdue

Well, last time I posted, I hinted at a new face here at our home. He's now been here about 7 months.  Meet Orion: 

We adopted Orion from the local shelter. He's about. 2 years old. Here are a few pics from his first week at home with us: 

We named him Orion after the constellation. One story behind the constellation is that Orion's Belt is where spirits come from and go to. We felt that since Spuds had to leave this world so quickly, it would only be right to save a life from the shelter, and even more special to us to save a "bully breed,"and then we saw Orion there. Spuds left our world, and Orion entered it. We wanted to remember Spuds while also saving a life, so this name was a perfect way to symbolize all of our feelings. 

Orion really is a pretty awesome dog.  He's happy all the time and loves everything and everyone. He's also ornery. Really. Really really really really ornery. :) 

Shadow and Orion get along great. Shadow is great at teaching him things and taking on a "mothering" role. She never hesitates to correct him when he's a little to crazy or hyper for her liking, lol. She's a little calmer and reserved since Spuds has passed, and we hope that losing him so unexpectedly hasn't affected her too bady. We think that overall she's still a happy girl:

Chad and I still miss Spuds everyday, and have gotten his paw print tattooed on us to remember that he will always be our "soul dog," that he changed our lives by teaching us patience, kindness, strength, how to love unconditionally, and to stand up for what we believe. They say time heals all wounds, but the truth is, you just learn to deal with it better over time. That's what we hope for. 

I'm happy to finally share Orion with you all 😄.    Thanks for reading, 

-Anna&Chad, and the PoochesForPeace

There's a New Face in Town

... Details to come soon ;)

Happy Pitbull Awareness Day !!!

Shadow is spending her day doing whatever she wants! 

... Wait she does that everyday anyway! Well at least today she has a special excuse! It's her day! 

Some of My Favorite Pics of Spuds

I was looking through some old pics. I know I've posted some of these before, but I love them! Spuds and me often did mini photo-shoots :)

I think this was around winter 2010

 

Spring 2012. Soccer balls were always one of his favorite toys.

 

Spring 2012 again.

 

When the electric went out at the end of June 2012. It was really hot, but Spuds insisted on cuddling.

Just another cuddle session.

Nap time. Just a normal night!

Posing!

My soul dog.

Racism is the pits! Gotta stand up for the Pits!

My comfort blanket.


Just wanted to share some of my favorites!!! Will be looking through pics of Spuds and Shadow together soon.

~Smooches and Tail Wags, -The Pooches (&Anna&Chad)

Spuds has Crossed the Rainbow Bridge

Spuds was taken to the vet last Monday October 7th due to lack of appetite and vomiting that came on, seemingly out of nowhere. That day at the vet, an x-ray revealed some minor intestinal inflammation, a spleen mass, and kidney stones.

Spuds' blood work came back the day after his appointment, and revealed very elevated BUN and Creat, which are kidney labs. His labs overall, and professional opinion by our vet, as well as Medvet animal hospital, pointed towards chronic kidney disease and kidney failure.

 

I miss seeing my family all together in snuggle mode.

The medical opinion was also that this had probably been going on for a while (hence, "chronic kidney disease"), but that Spuds didn't show any signs until now. They found some infection in his labs as well. The infection likely threw his health into a tailspin, causing him to finally show some signs of not feeling well.
The spleen mass was likely benign, but until his labs improved, Spuds wouldn't have been able to tolerate surgery or biopsy of it. The biggest issue was the kidneys.

Beautiful Boy

Spuds received iv fluid, antibiotics, and anti nausea treatment from Tuesday through Saturday. From Thursday evening through Saturday evening, he came home in the evenings, as his temperature began dropping without heat support, and we wanted to be with him in the event that he started to decline more rapidly.  We gave him fluids and anti nausea medication throughout the nights. His temperature dropping without heat support was a sign that his body was trying to shut down.

On Saturday, October 12th, Spuds had labs re-drawn. Spuds had endured a very stressful, and likely painful, week. His labs revealed that absolutely nothing had improved. The only reason we decided to try some treatment, was to see if his kidneys could be "jump started," with the possibility of him having some good quality of life left. We decided to see how he did overnight one more time, so that we could spend time with him, and so that all of his loved ones could see him.
Spuds had continued to have periods of nausea and vomiting despite his treatment. He also began having "kidney failure diarrhea." By Saturday evening, he was leaking liquidy diarrhea like fluid, and didn't even seem to realize it was happening. He hadn't been able to eat since the Monday of his first vet appointment.
Saturday was such a special day for him. He was very perky and happy all day, because about 15 friends and family members came to see him throughout the day. It was the best I'd seen him since all this started. Spuds meant so much to so many people, and had made a big mark in a lot of people's hearts.
By Sunday morning (one week ago today), Spuds had a hard time standing up. The kidney toxins had begun eating the proteins in his body. He was suffering and nothing that we tried had made him any better. The only choices we had were to let him die painfully and slowly in the following few days, or to give him a gift of passing peacefully and without additional pain. We chose to end his suffering on Sunday, October 13, 2013.

It has been one week. Our home, and hearts, feel a little empty. We cannot believe that a dog who has been so relatively healthy would have to leave us so suddenly and unexpectedly. We feel, however, blessed to have had the past 9 1/2 years with such an amazing dog. He taught us lessons about life, like how to treat others better, how to have patience, and how to never judge a book by it's cover. Spuds sparked my interest in Pit Bull advocacy. He changed my life, and will forever be my soul dog.

Shadow is adjusting well, although appears a bit bored and clingy.

I only regret that I didn't take more time to share the past several months with all of you on the blog.

My comfort blanket, my soul dog.

Remembering Spuds, ~The Pooch (&Anna&Chad)

Spuds.

He's in kidney failure. 

He started vomiting and not eating the other day so we went to the vet yesterday. The bloodwork came back today. 

Why do some dogs have to be so stoic? I wish he would've shown signs sooner. 

He's currently at the hospital. I'll keep you all updated. I'm sorry we've been so absent from the blog in recent months :(. 

Power Of The Paw Please, ~The Pooches (&Anna&Chad)

Wordless Wednesday

 

Spuds looked at me today and said, "Mom, you have to share my irresistible face with da rest of da world. Stop keepin it to urself!"

 

OSU Football Saturdays

 

Going through periods of not blogging is something I always end up regretting. However, if one thing happens that makes blogging more difficult, such as when Blogger changed the website format and my pics started failing to upload, I found myself too easily frustrated to post.

 

Everything seems to be working great right now, so I hope it continues this way! I have missed all of you terribly. Reading everyone's blogs and seeing the passion and love that everyone in dog-blog land has for animals is what always brings me and my family back here.

 

Spuds and Shadow are, thankfully, still doing the same ol' stuff they were doing the last time we posted. They've had some minor health stuff going on, and are going through allergy season as we speak, but overall, life has been good for the pooches. <3 p="">

 

Momma's Girl

I'm happy to finally get some recent pics up here and reach out again :)   Can't wait to catch up on all of your blogs. I'm sure I've been missing a lot.

Out of Hiding, ~The Pooches (&Anna&Chad)

 

 

 

The Unofficial Hiatus

Hi old friends. We are back from our unofficial hiatus :). Sorry for the absence. Sometimes life takes over!
We'll be posting again soon. Hope everyone is doing well, ~The Pooches (&Anna&Chad)

Just a Littttllee Closer Mom!

So there's this thing that Shadow really likes to do.

If she were a human I'd wonder if she has sensory processing disorder.

Sometimes, she likes to go into a room by herself and relax alone. She'll even grumble at you sometimes if she wants to be alone and you try to cuddle with her or play.

Other times, she likes to, well, smother you with all her weight and press her face into yours as hard as she can!

 

 

I finally got proof when I got this picture! If you look closely, you can see that my face is slightly shifted...because she's in mid-smother mode. There are times when she just decides she needs to be really really close to you! Her little cheeks crinkle up in a smile and her body wiggles with happiness. She usually likes to press all her weight onto your body and press her face into yours.

 

It really is odd.

 

But she's so cute when she does it!

 

She really has a lot of quirky behaviors. Chad and I have said that we're happy she ended up with us, because I'm not sure that everyone would understand her. She is very vocal, and there are times that someone who doesn't know her very well might think she's mad when she's really just very excited. For example, because she's so vocal, sometimes when she's excited she barks and makes funny noises. Other times, like I said, she really doesn't want to be bothered, and will grumble, whine, or make what I call "monkey noises" if Spuds or me and Chad try to get her to play. We always say we feel lucky to have a dog who's so vocal, because it's usually very easy to know what she needs from you at different times and easy to understand how she's feeling. A lot of people could misinterpret her, though!

 

Do your dogs have quirky behaviors like Shadow?

 

~Loving Our Quirks, -The Pooches (&Anna &Chad)

winter.

It's biting at our finger tips. The Ohio air has turned an icy sort of cold in our town. The wind is pouring all around us like an uninvited cold shower. With the holidays over, that inner warmth we feel from family, friends, and cinnamon spice starts to fade. The world isn't full of the reds and greens glittering neighborhood houses, with the promise that Christmas is near. Christmas came and went in the click of of the clock- where at once we were hopeful of the magic of the day, now we sit with only nostalgia, until next time.

The good thing is, we are still filled with inner warmth. When it's just too chilly, there's a companion, a best friend, a cuddle buddy with a built in blanket that doubles as fur, who is always by our sides. As they nestle their heads in the crook of our necks, and drape their paws across our chilly souls, they indulge in the belly scratches only a human can provide. They may think, perhaps, that they're the only ones benefiting from this exchange. But as us humans gaze into their tear drop shaped eyes, we can only hope they know, somehow, that we gain so much more from them. Having these companions means that the warmth we receive wraps our hearts up with a pretty little bow, and allows us to give ourselves the gift of how it feels to love more than we ever expected we might.

They are our hearts. They are our inspiration. They are Pit Bulls.

Twas the night before Christmas

...and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a Pit Bull :)

Wait wait wait. Spuds and Shadow heer. I know mama duznt let us type this bloggie very often, but we wanna show u wuts going on in the house. We are definitely stirring.

See...we found deez presents under da inside toilet tree, and we fink dey have r names on dem. Butt...mama and daddy wont let us chew dem up yet! Duz anyone no why?

 

I thought maybe Santa had to come first before we could open dem. Becuz, you no, we met him and it seemed like he wuz the one supposed to bring presents, from da conversashun we had wif him and all. I watched for him out da window, see? All I saw was snow. Hmpf.

 

 

We are also a little sooprised to see presnts under da tree, becyz Santa told us he doesnt come til veeery layte on Christmas Eve, and it is not veeery layte yet. Butt, based on wut we saw, these presents are just from mama and daddy anywayz.

 

I guess we'll be snuggling next to the tree, waiting fur morning. We sure r excited about opening r presents.

 

 

Did ur mama and daddy let u open ne presents early?

 

Ok, wee are signing off now. R paws r tired from all this typing. We shoulda let mama do it.

 

~Dreaming of Santa and presents, -The Pooches (&Their humans)

Christmas is Coming and iPhone blogging troubles

Hi everyfurry!! Christmas will be here before we know it. The dogs have been getting lots of Christmas cards from everyone in the card exchange. We have ours all ready to be mailed out tomorrow. The dogs have gotten more Christmas cards that Chad and I, hehe.

Shadow has been adapting to having a Christmas tree in the window. She still manages to get her window-gazing in, even with the big tree in the way.

She is sporting her new "piggy" sweater (Or Miss Piggy, as we refer to her) in this pic. It is from Chilly Dog sweaters, and it is the first clothing item she has ever liked. I'm pretty sure she is tired of being chilly in the winter. She seems happier, cuddlier, and calmer with this sweater on.

 

The Pooches would also like you to know that they met the "Big man" last week. They met.....

 

SANTA!

 

 

There was a local pet food store doing photos with Santa, and the profits benefited a local animal shelter. Spuds and Shadow did SO great in the store. They were friendly to everyone, seemed very comfortable in the unfamiliar environment, and also were so nice to Santa. I wasn't sure what to expect, because sometimes Spuds can be a little put-off by people wearing hats. Also, Shadow doesn't always warm up to people right away. She, however, greeted everyone in the store with a lick, hug, and tail wag. I was really amazed at how open they were to the whole experience. Talk about a "proud mother" moment! I'm pretty sure they enjoyed just being in the store more than actually getting their picture taken with Santa, but it seemed like they had fun overall!

 

Have you ever taken your dogs to meet Santa? How did it go?

 

On a human-related note, my Blogger app on my iPhone says I'm at my photo limit and won't let me do posts to Blogger through the app anymore, so I can only do them on my laptop. Has anyone else ran into this problem? If so, how did you resolve it? I thought about deleting some of the posts that are saved into the app to make more memory space, but I'm pretty sure if I delete them from the list of posts on the app, they'll disappear from the blog. I'm not sure why it says I'm at my photo limit on the app, but is still letting me post from the laptop... 

 

 

~Merry Christmas Wishes, -The Pooches (&Anna&Chad)

Christmas Card Exchange!!!!

If you want to be part of the dog-blog world Christmas card exchange, read about it at Kissa-Bull's post! It'll tell
You what to do: http://kissa-bull.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-card-exchange.html?m=1

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Happy Holidays

Shadow wishes everyone a happy holiday season!

 

We just finished decorating the tree, and I found her jingle bell collar. She was excited to prance around in it (probably because she anticipated treats?) Shadow has also enjoyed laying under the tree on the tree skirt. She's always the first one to try out laying on something new.

Spuds did his traditional "I must walk underneath the tree a million times on day 1 that it's up." Ever since he was a puppy, he has treated Christmas trees as a prop for playing, and loves to walk, slide, run, etc underneath them. Surprisingly, he hasn't broken many ornaments in his 8 years.

Do your dogs have any holiday season traditions?

 

~Happy Holidays, -The Pooches (&Anna&Chad)

Wordless Wednesday Veintiocho: Brrr!

Shadow and Her Ears

This is for Emily from  It All Started With a Pit Bull blog. If you haven't seen their blog already, check it out! Shadow and her ears made an appearance today :)   They have many different levels of communication...

Side view ears. 

Intense ears.

"Thinking of treats" ears.

"Really thinking about treats" ears.

"Just give me the treat already" ears.

Do your dogs have ears that could double as wings?

Big Ears Love, ~The Pooches (&Anna &Chad)

Models...

"Is this my good side?"