Jack

Hello! In case you were wondering,Jack is doing much better.  For the most part, he will walk on it and he is now allowed to jump (not that we could stop him before). When we take him for a walk, he will walk on all four legs most of the time. He still will walk on just the three out of laziness or if he is in pain.  Overall, it is good to see him doing so well.  

We ended up keeping Jack in a pack and play to keep him from jumping, especially when we would leave the house. It eventually became his "house."  We took it down today because he doesn't need it anymore. 

Jack's Surgery

Jack had surgery on his back left knee yesterday. The surgery went well and he got to come home today. He ruptured his left cranial cruciate ligament (similar to a human ACL). Instead of being torn, it was completely separated. Jack is resting but a little uncomfortable. It will take a few months for his recovery and they said he will regain 75-80% of his normal function. Right now he has a soft blue cast on the leg that will be removed in 3-5 days. He hurt his leg about two weeks ago trying to jump into the car. The surgeon said that it may have caused it or it could have been the final straw for it to break. This is a common degenerative thing. If it was already deteriorating, he could have just been walking and it could go out. This would mean the other one is likely to go out in the next couple of years. If that is not the case, then it might have been how he landed. Hopefully he will continue to improve! Here are some pictures of our little doggie. 

Leaving the doctor. 

It's hard to get comfortable!!

Finally comfortable! 

I can walk the dog (all by myself)!

So I have SOOOOO many things to post and update. Hopefully I will get to everything, but honestly who knows! I had the pleasure of having my sister, Asha, and nephew, Layne stay with me a few times this summer. Layne LOVED walking Jack. Here are a couple of pics of Layne walking Jack here at our apartment in Orlando.

I LOVE this little boy!!! I miss him so much!

Jack and the Skunk

This post is to explain how Jack got sprayed by a skunk. I have had a few people ask and so I thought I would post it, plus the pics I am posting with it are cute.

It all happened about two weeks ago...

Jack was having a good morning and than all of a sudden he started limping. He wouldn't walk on his back right leg. We were concerned that he had something stuck in his paw but we couldn't find anything. Jack wasn't his normal playful self, instead he slept most of the day. It was rainy (of course) so it worked out well because he didn't whine about going out. The slide show below shows him throughout the day as he is sleeping.

So when Daddy came home, I took Jack at to go to the bathroom and to meet him. I didn't concern myself with putting his leash on him because he wanted to be carried and still wasn't walking on his back right paw. I didn't think he could get into that much trouble. ... I was wrong...

I set him on the ground and he took off running! I was shocked. Now you need to know two things 1. it is very dark and there aren't many lights (and most of the ones they have don't work). 2. a skunk (and other small critters) like to hang out by the dumpster.

Anyways, I set him on the ground and he took off running. The next thing I hear is him wrestling an animal but I still can't see anything. I start yelling his name and he comes to me. But starts rubbing his face into the ground. At this point I begin to smell that nasty skunk smell. However when I picked Jack up, he smelled different. Just so you know skunk smell up close doesn't smell the same as the far away smell. It smells like wet, hot, nasty garbage.

We took Jack inside and started giving him baths. We even used dish soap (which did help quite a bit). He got a bath a couple of days in a row but it wasn't going away all the way. However, it got to the point where you can only smell it when he is wet and hot. It is hard to scrub him because he was sprayed mostly on his face.

The reason we didn't soak him in tomato juice is because we couldn't plug our tub and because he would jump out. But it is turning out ok now.

So this summer, Jack actually caught a woodchuck (that is for another day) and a skunk! Now you all know the story of the skunk!

Go Fetch!!

So this summer Jack learned to play fetch! We have tried to teach him but it never happened before. Well playing with Patch helped him learn to play, and now he LOVES it! Is this a good thing? Yes and No. It is easier to play with him and I can throw the ball when I am doing other things and it tires him out. But...sometimes he doesn't want to stop or give you the ball to throw it. Here are some pics of us playing ball outside since we have been back in Utah! (This ball squeaks and so that makes it all the better!)

Look how happy he is!!

Jack caught the ball and is bringing it back to Mommy!

This face says, "Mom throw the ball, please."

This is happy face. I got to play ball!!! YAY!

Utah!

I am now back in Utah!! I know a shock, I wasn't supposed to be back for another few days but I am back! Someone else booked my flight and I got my itinerary last night just after 8:00 pm (CT time) and it says that I am flying out TODAY at 1:45 pm. So my wonderful friend Ashley helped me pack and clean while our dogs played. We left for the airport at 11:00 AM (CT time) today and landed in SLC at 7:00 pm (Utah time or 9:00 pm CT time). It was a long day but not that bad. Jack and I miss Brent but we know this is for the best.

A funny thing did happen on the flight though. Jack has always been perfectly calm on the plane and doesn't get too upset with flying. He never barks but he does fight getting into his carryon kennel (man that do has STRONG legs!!). The first flight from Hartford to Cincinnati was fine but not long into the flight from Cincinnati to SLC, he started trying to scratch his way out of his kennel. He has never done this before! I got him some ice because he was thirsty and that helped a little. But than it happened again and I got him calmed down. And it happened again! I finally realized what was happening, every time this one stewardess came over the intercom he freaked out. I don't blame him, she like blasted her voice so loud it would shock you sometimes. If anyone else came over he was fine just not with her! He is so happy to be home he just misses his Daddy.

Another funny story: So Jack remembered right where our house was and where things were in the house. He expected everything to be the same. He walked over to the Madsen's place to see Rico not realizing that Rico isn't home yet!

Well it is getting late cause I am still on Ct time! I am going to try and do updates more frequently. We will see how that goes!

Dog Park!!!

So Jack loved Phoenix, partly because of the HUGE dog park they had.  He loved playing with the bigger dogs and swimming in the lake.  It was a little muddy because it had actually rained a few days while we were there, but Jack didn't care.  I wish we had a place like this near our house because Jack LOVED it!  

There were three parts to the park. One part had the lake in it and one with out it.  The third part was for "timid or shy" dogs - definitely NOT Jack!  

Rubber Lizards

So I got these little rubber lizards for a project I was doing, but they didn't work out.  I decided to see what Jack would do with them.  So I gave him one.  He LOVES them!  These videos are from Dec. 4, but it was not his first experience with them.  He goes CRAZY when he plays with him.  This first video kinda shows the fun he has with them, but he gets camera shy and would run circles or do his full scale attack on the lizard.  You can get the idea though.  Letting him play with them works out well though when we have something we have to get done, but Jack wants to play.  He won't let you play with the lizard with him.  He snatches it from you and runs away and plays by himself.  If you come close to him, he runs away.  That is why in the second video he is hiding under the table.  

This video is a little calmer just because he is trying to hide from me.  

Snow, Snow, Snow, and Guess what, More Snow!!!

So it has been snowing a ton here!  These pictures were taken on December 16th.  The snow hasn't been too bad this year, probably because it started snowing later, and we don't have to shovel.  That makes life WAY easier.  This first picture is a look from our front door before the snow had been shoveled or plowed that day. 

This next picture is of Jack in the snow.  He is wearing his new coat by itself.  Now when it is really cold, we put another coat over this one.  Jack LOVES to eat the snow.  

Brent and Jack about to leave on a walk.  Look how bundled up they are!

They plowed soon after this picture was taken.  It looks so pretty outside when the suns starts to go down, even if the sun goes down too early. 

Beautiful picture.  You can see the mountains in the background.  

Below is a video of Brent and Jack playing in the snow.  Brent likes to throw snowballs at Jack, who will than attack or get annoyed.  

Jack on Christmas Morning!

Ok so Jack LOVED Christmas! I don't think he actually fully understood what was going on, but boy was he excited!  He couldn't wait for daddy to wake up and get out of bed.  He was running and jumping in circles.  Jack knew that there were presents under the tree for him (we had kept them up so that he couldn't smell them and get into them before Christmas).  Here is a video of him waiting not so patiently for the festivities to begin.  

As you can tell, Jack was too excited to wait for Daddy to get the Christmas music playing.  This next video is of Jack opening his first present (with Daddy's help).  

Needless to say, Jack had a WONDERFUL Christmas.  

Strike's 1st Birthday!

On Friday, Sept 26, Strike had a little birthday party.  He turned one the day before.  Jack, Rico, and Strike all had a great time playing together, hating the party hats, and loving the treats!  Here are some pictures of all the fun we had!

Jack is not too happy about the party hat.  This is the only picture of him facing the camera!

We kept trying to line the three up to take a picture of them, but they wouldn't stay long enough for us to get a picture! Jack is the dog in front and Rico and Strike are sitting next to each other.  

They decided to try and help each other get the party hats off!  Teamwork gets the hat off faster!

This is the closest we ever got to getting a picture of the three of them in a line.  Rico is standing in front of Strike!  Yes, all three are Yorkies.  Rico lives next door to us and Strike lives the next house over.  

This last thing is a video of Jack trying to get his party hat off.  This was before the party started!