Dogster

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jujubean's thoughts

my very own dog whisperer

well. my mom's aunt (my great aunt?) watches the dog whisperer, like many of the humans in my family. the difference with her, though, seems to be that she can actually effect the changes cesar does. (my mom is really bad at it.) we took a road trip to pittsburgh to visit my mom's extended family (my first time meeting them!), and i got to meet my human great grandfather's dog (who i terrorized by chasing and barking at -- he runs away from me, what am i supposed to do?) and my human great aunt's two dogs. amazingly, i barely barked at them at all because my great aunt was "dominant" and wouldn't let me. i even ended up playing with one of her dogs, which is the first time my mom has ever seen me do that with another dog. it was incredible! my mom's bf took a video of it, so maybe we'll try to post that here. my mom was absolutely floored by my fantastically normal dog behavior. she couldn't replicate it with my great grandfather's dog (oh well), but she's hopeful that maybe someday i will be able to go to a dog park and enjoy myself. if only my great aunt could teach her how to handle me...

juju and the wet new england summer

it is very confusing that it rains in the summer here. maybe more to me than to her. on the nice days, she's going on walks along the charles river. on the hot days, she stays inside with air conditioning. she's not quite as fit as she could be , so i need to step it up so that we can go camping and hiking soon! am i going to have to get one of those baby bjorn things to carry her when she gets too tired? i mean, how silly is that?

i made it through surgery!!

hi everyone! i've been away healing from surgery, but i am very happy to report that i made it through just fine. we did not win the photo contest :( but we gave it a good shot, so thank you to everyone who helped by voting. some very wonderful people donated to my cause, and my mom borrowed her boyfriend's credit for the rest. it turns out i don't have a liver shunt, i have microvascular dyplasia, which is like a bunch of tiny liver shunts, but there's no cure for it. my vet says that as long as i'm not showing symptoms, i should live a pretty normal life. the surgery and recuperation time would have been a lot longer and riskier if it was a shunt (because i'm so small, i lose heat quickly and because of my bum liver, i don't process anesthesia very well), so my mom was relieved to see me just a day after surgery. it also cut down the cost a couple thousand, thank goodness. i have lots of staples along my belly now. i can't wait to get them out! my mom says i was pretty out of it for the first couple of days, but now i'm back to my old self. she took a very embarrassing picture of me with The Cone. luckily, i didn't mess with the incision much, so i didn't have to wear it a lot. so now i can settle into my life with no huge medical issues on the horizon and live the happy life i've always wanted. thank you, again, everyone for your support!!

love and joy,
jujubean