Patton had been writing his diary for many years, and I know he would not approve of his platform getting dusty and forgotten. So, let me introduce you to the crazy duo who will be taking over his diary.
Meet Piper. She’s a 5-year old Rhodesian Ridgeback. She’s the perpetual “baby” and don’t let anyone tell you differently.
Piper
Next up is Mina. She’s a 1.5-year old Rhodesian Ridgeback. Mina is Piper’s half sister (they have the same sire). She is by far the most entertaining of the two. She is always up for some fun!
Mina
We are currently in a little heat wave here in East Tennessee. The girls have been spending time enjoying the water features available at daycare. They have splash pads, fountains and plenty of wading pools!
Patton’s mom here (the typist who was always slacking). Unfortunately, I have some sad news…. Patton gained his wings this past Wednesday. He had been doing pretty well, all things considered, up until this past month. I could see that he was slowing down and things that he had been doing were becoming harder. Tuesday night he suffered a series of seizures that greatly diminished his quality of life. The hard decision was made to let him go and not have him suffer. He was just 9 days short of his 17th birthday.
Below is a post I made on social media, I feel it sums up my time with him, but in reality our time together was more than words could describe.
“I knew this day would eventually come and as every year went by, I dreaded it more. Sixteen years, three hundred and fifty-six days you have graced the world with your presence. From the time you came into my life as a fuzzy brown pup, you’ve been as close to perfect as a dog could get (even during your young and teenage years). A gentle soul who just went with the flow. Through ups and down, you’ve been by my side. Until today… Today I had to say good-bye to my bestest boy in the world.
I have really been slacking on writing new posts…as one can tell by the sparse 2023 entries. I can try to make a resolution to do better this year, but no promises on if I will succeed.
So what were the biggest events of 2023? Well, I lost my sister Pixie in early September. She was 14 years old and it shocked all of the family. She was the sweetest girl and my best friend. We frequently played together, in our own special “senior” way. We had the best adventures together over the years and Pixie Pie will be greatly missed 😢
The late great Pixie Pie
In late December I turned 16 years old! Sweet 16! Mom was thrilled that I made yet another trip around the sun. She has her fingers crossed for a few more celebrations.
Enjoying my birthday cake and my cake plushie plays the Happy Birthday song
Early December brought a new addition to the family. The parents adopted a puppy 🙄 Like I needed a puppy at this stage of my life. My new sister is named Mina and she is another Rhodesian Ridgeback. I guess it could be worse. She doesn’t bug me too much and seems to respect me when I correct her behavior.
Mina, the new kid in town – she’s gonna be trouble!!
December also brought Piper’s annual holiday photo. She seemed somewhat excited for it this year- until she found out she was a hair away from landing on Santa’s naughty list.
The smug look you have when you think you’ve fooled Santa Paws and the reaction you have when he tells you how close you are to being on the naughty list.
And that is the highlights of my 2023 in a dog bowl. Here’s to 2024! I think I will kick it off with a nice nap.
Well another year is almost at the end. I celebrated my 15th birthday with a little cake and lots of loving at the end of November. I’ll have to remember to ask for a cake again next year! It was yummy and I was nice enough to share it with my furblings.
After my birthday celebration, it was time start addressing Christmas cards. I had the prime photo spot on our card as usual!
Then it was time to wait for Santa Paws’ arrival. I had been extra good this year, so I knew the stocking would be stuffed with lots of wonderful things. Santa Paws rewards us good little boys with tasty treats and favorite toys. I got a new Deedle Dee Dude!!!
And now it’s time for New Year’s resolutions…. I think mine has to be making Mom find the time to share my blog posts. It’s been neglected way too much this year!
Well friends, it’s official, it sucks getting old. As of this writing I am around 13.5 years old – pretty old for a large dog. Overall, I have been a very healthy pup, very few issues or illness. However, earlier this year my age started catching up to me.
It started out simple enough with a slight limp on my right hind leg. Mom figured arthritis and she was correct, but that was only the start. Turns out I probably had a partial tear in my CCL as well. Even with medication, my limp wasn’t improving, in fact, it go worse. That lead to mom doing tons of research on CCL injuries. Of course lots of information was about surgical options. Mom really didn’t want to go that route due to my age and the recovery time involved.
She finally came across “conservative management” options. This was all about supplements, braces, limiting actives, etc. This sounded like a good option. Thus, I got a brace for my injured leg. I wore it some and it did seem to help but getting it adjusted for a perfect fit was difficult.
Modeling my braceGiving mom the “stink eye” because I have to wear this brace.
After about 3 months, I was getting around good. Still had a little bit of a limp, but it wasn’t to too bad. Unfortunately my other leg had been taking a lot of extra abuse to compensate for the injury to the first leg. This lead to me blowing out my other knee! Now I was really in a pickle!
Mom bumped up my medications (she had been weaning me off of some) and kept adding to my supplements. It took about a month, but I’m able to walk again – but I still have a noticeable limp. Mom says if we can keep making improvements and avoid any additional injuries to my hind legs… well, I might just be almost as good as “new” in another 6-12 months. I know that sounds like a long time, but it will be worth it! Right now, I am enjoying being pampered.
Well, it is officially 2021. In fact we are already 1 month into it and it hasn’t been too bad. January ended with at least one nice, warm, sunny day. Since mom was working from home we got to enjoy the upper deck, aka the “sun deck”. But alas, that nice weather couldn’t last too long, we had light snow falling all day yesterday and early today. All totaled, we had maybe an inch of snow, but 99% of it is gone now.
3 of 4 pups enjoying the “Sun Deck”
Senior Red and Puppy Red
That pesky groundhog said today that we will have 6 more weeks of winter. I’m not sure that I am on board with that. I’m ready for the warm and sunny days of spring. Guess we will just have to wait & see what happens.
The Pupper Bowl is on Sunday. Mom got us some dog “beers” for us to enjoy while we what the commercials.
Well 2020 is a year that just keeps giving! The Christmas Eve weather forecast was hinting at winter weather that included rain, high winds, falling temperatures and finally snow. This concerned mom because she had food to prep & make for Christmas. We live in the mountains so winds and snow can cause assorted issues.
With the weather in mind, mom made the layers for her Red Velvet Cake on Wednesday. She figured if worst came to worst, she could always ice it on Christmas morning.
Thursday morning brought rain. Mom got up early and finished up the cake & made sausage balls. This took care of the main food prep as we were having Honeybaked ham & turkey breast – they didn’t require cooking.
As the afternoon progressed, the rain continued & the temperature started dropping. By 4pm we had some sleet, by 4:30pm it was pouring snow. Around 5pm we had our first hint of trouble to come – the power dropped causing all the lighting in the house to dim. At 6pm the power went out.
Like I said, 2020 just keeps giving. We had no power Christmas Eve night. The pawrents gassed up the portable generator in case we needed it to keep food in the refrigerator from spoiling. After 3.5 hours, it was time to start the generator – and wouldn’t you know it, the starter pull cord broke. Nothing like making repairs in the dark while it’s freezing cold and snowing.
Luckily we got the generator going! And lucky us, we had a fireplace with plenty of wood to keep us warm!
Christmas morning brought us a beautiful but cold winter wonderland. I’ve always enjoyed the cold & snow and it turns out Piper does too. (Speaking of Piper, she’s destroyed a second pair of mom’s slippers! 😳)
In case you are wondering, we were without power for about 22 hours. And we ended up with about 6 inches of snow.
The pawrents went out to eat last night, leaving us pups to our own devices for a few hours. Normally this isn’t an issue, we just lay around & nap. Or at least that’s what we did pre-Piper.
You must understand that Piper is a corona puppy. She hasn’t experienced very much alone time in her life. She’s had mom working from home for most her life and the days mom goes to the office, Piper goes to daycare. Piper simply doesn’t know how to relax and chill by herself. This lead her to get in trouble with mom last night.
Here’s how it went down. The pawrents leave & all was fine for maybe 30 minutes. Then Piper starts with her anxiety issues. Running in & out of the house, chewing up a stick, bringing toys out of the house and leaving them on the screened in deck. She even brought a stick inside the house to chew! Mom could deal with these antics. What pushed her over the edge was the house shoes/slippers.
When the pawrents returned home, mom changed clothes & started looking for her house shoes/slippers. She found one of them on the big dog bed in the living room. When she picked it up, it was damp and appeared to have been chewed on. Shoe #2 was nowhere to be seen. Mom had a sneaking suspicion that it was outside on the screened in deck. She was right and the shoe was destroyed! Mom was most unhappy! It she knows it was Piper because she saw it happen when she reviewed the security camera footage. Boy am I glad she didn’t have cameras when I was young… she can’t prove that it was me who made all those dog beds “snow” stuffing!!
It’s getting to be my favorite time of year. When the days are cool or even down right chilly, those days are the best. Something in that brisk air makes me feel frisky and young again. And we all know that I am not exactly a young dog anymore. I do have a birthday coming up. I turn 13 on November 22nd. Wonder if mom will fix me a special treat? I deserve it you know, because I am the best boy ever!
Yesterday was a really windy day and those winds took most of the remaining leaves from the trees. Let me show you the view from our evening walk. Mom calls this particular spot “the peaceful spot”. She thinks it one of the prettiest places on the property.
The rest of the hounds are doing fine. Piper just finished up her intermediate obedience classes. Mom wants to practice some before scheduling a Canine Good Citizen test. She thinks that a little extra time will help Piper pass the test.
Pixie is busy as usual. She’s on critter patrol constantly and seems determined to dig up every area that mom plants grass in 😕.
And Ugg, well Ugg is just Ugg. Grumpy and jealous are the words that best describes him😂.
Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving, even if it isn’t like a normal Thanksgiving.
I think it’s been a year since I last had an entry – way too long, but the person just hasn’t felt inspired. As most everyone knows, 2020 has been different to say the least.
Mom had a blizzard for her birthday way back in 1993 and this year she received a global pandemic. No wonder she doesn’t feel the need to celebrate that day!
What else has been going on in my world? Mom has been working from home a lot, which I like. Since March, she’s only been in an office maybe 4 weeks. I gained a sister. And NO ONE asked me if I wanted another sister. I mean, would it be so hard to get the senior pup’s input? She’s a Rhodesian Ridgeback. According to my DNA test, I have some of that breed in me as well. Here she is at about 6 weeks old. Lighting made her always look a different color. Now that she’s older, she is almost the same color as me.
Here a a few more photos
Synchronized napping
Why is she sitting on me? And why isn’t she at daycare??
Sigh….
HaHaHa! They dressed her up at daycare for a Watermelon Social
And now she’s 6 months old. At least mom still takes her to daycare 3+ days a week. Us old pups don’t have the energy to keep the puppy entertained any longer. I’m fast approaching 13 years old, Pixie is 11 this year and Ugg is 9 years old this year.
I’ll try to get the human to post a few more times this year. I mean, she hasn’t let me tell you about the bear, twin fawns or the bobcat or… well, you should get the idea, we live in the woods!
Patton's Diary 