Frankie + Porterhouse = happy pup

(taken with a cell phone)

Last night we were invited to a very lavish dinner with Jon and Libby. Jon and Jeff had HUGE porterhouse steaks while Lib and I had AMAZING filet mignons. We also had crab stuffed portabella mushrooms – YUM!! After Jeff was done gnawing (and I literally mean gnawing) on his steak, he held the bone for Frankie as she went to town! Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw the meaty bone coming towards her. She was using all her might to strip away the meat, even growling at times. She ate like a queen last night! Soon after dinner, she cuddled up in Daddy’s lap and it was lights out. She slept the rest of the night there, the whole way home and like a champ all night. I am so glad I didn’t have to take her out for her first potty break this am!! HA!

149th Street Dog Park

It’s a dog park on 149^th Street! Last night Frankie got to play with 9 other dogs right on our very own street! We took her for a small walk to the end of our block to get the mail. Here she met two adult female Cockers named Freckles who is black and white – just like Frankie and Tootsie who is black and buff - looks like a tootsie roll. She also met Colby who is a male buff Cockapoo and Eddie who is a black and white Cockapoo. After the dogs checked each other out and the adults ran out of mundane chit chat, we were on our way back home. Our neighbors were out enjoying the somewhat warm weather, so we decided to join them. While we sat around with our beers, we watched five dogs play, chase, and jump all over each other. Those in attendance were: Oopsie who is a little Jack Russell Terrier, Danner who is a golden Lab, Ox who is a nine week old Boston Terrier, our Frankie, and big Frankie who is a buff colored female Staffordshire Terrier (Pit Bull). Yes, there are two female Frankie’s on our block! This was not the first time these five pups have gotten to play together. Big Frankie and Oopsie live across the street from us and Danner and Ox live a few blocks away but visit often. It was fun to watch the dogs play and it was even more fun knowing they would all be super tired for bed time!

poor thing...can't catch a break

Frankie had hiccups all night and all morning. She also sounded like she was a little congested. Poor baby girl....

bbq fun

a day at the horse show

Last Saturday I took Frankie to Cambridge for Kiley's horse show. She had a blast! We got good and dirty! We were both soaking wet and covered in mud by the time we went home. She even discovered the sublime delicacy of horse poo. Mmmmm!

HI!

Just saying HI!

first walk

Today we took our first real walk. Frankie was very tired by block six, but she was a trooper and made it home. She was so good. She just bopped along. She's yet to figure out she can actually walk ahead of us. She's always a few steps behind. It was a nice family moment.

Frankie the ferocious...guard puppy?!

Yes folks...we have ourselves a guard puppy! And...she's finally discovered the power of the BARK!

5AM - every morning - Frankie wakes up and decides it's potty time! So this morning, I woke up to the "alarm clock" named Frankie as she chewed on my hair -one of her favorite past times - and brought her outside. If you were up at 5AM, you know it was danged windy outside. She ran into the yard and peed without hesitation. Then rather than waddle around looking for the perfect poop spot, she ran back to the door. Meanwhile, I'm outside looking like a jerk in a short sleeve shirt, fleece pants, and my husbands size 50 slippers. I tried, and failed miserably, to get her back in the yard to do her thang. She was having none of it. She kept running back to the door. Finally she came to stand by me about six feet from the door. She then started to growl and attempt to bark at....the wind?! She was very upset!

I tried to get her to go to the side of our yard thinking she would finally do her business. Big mistake! I just brought her closer to the enemy, only now, the trees were getting into the rumble too. They were creaking and making all kinds of noise in protest to the wind. She really found her bark now. She was barking and growling and kept moving to stand/sit between me and the woods.

Finally, I gave up on the poop adventure. I scooped her up and brought her back inside. She had her treat and we tromped back upstairs to attempt to sleep a little more before the real alarm clock started shrieking. Instead of going back to sleep, she sat right next to me staring out the window. She would growl and bark occasionally. Jeff was irritated, after all, he was still sound asleep until this point. I kept telling her good girl, because let's be honest...who really needs a dog that will bark at strange noises in the dark when they are home alone....this girl...that's who!

So yes, we have a guard puppy. A noble, beautiful guard puppy.

Scary moment

On Friday night we had to bring Frankie to the emergency vet.

I got home from work and she was fine. We played for a few minutes, then cuddled up on the big chair for a nap. I slept for about 20 minutes, then moved her off my chest to the chair so I could get up and do some things about the house. She slept for about 30 more minutes before waking up. When she woke up, I was sitting across the room watching her. She sat up, wobbled a bit, then fell back over. I thought...uh oh... that's not normal. So I went over and picked her up. Her head rolled back like she couldn't hold it up. I set her down on the floor and she stumbled to her left then layed down. I started to panic. Jeff and I both tried to rouse her, but to no avail. I ran upstairs and looked up the emergency vet phone number.

I couldn't stop crying. I was so scared. Jeff called the vet and they told him to bring her in. We drove the 15 minutes to our vet with me holding and cuddling Frankie the whole time. I had tears constantly streaming down my face.

The minute we got there they took her back. They checked her vitals, blood sugar level, and drew blood for tests. Everything came back normal. They checked her for any neurological problems, still nothing. They fed her a little bit of kibble which she promptly vomited up. That turned out to be a good thing. The vet was able to see what was in her stomach. Nothing out of the ordinary. They gave her some fluids and told us we could take her home and what to watch for during the night.

We got home and she slept for about an hour before I woke her up to go potty and try to eat something. Within about 30 minutes of waking up, she seemed back to normal. She started to eat, play and had that normal glint in her eye. 180 degree difference from two hours before that.

I think she got really nauseous from playing with Jeff after she ate and it caught up to her after we took our nap. Since I have nothing else to go on...this is what I am diagnosing.

We have her regular vet appointment today, so I'm sure if they found something, we'll know about it.