Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday, the post where I highlight reader’s comments, answer questions and generally just wrap up my week.

You Make Me Smile – January 24, 2016

Jan said, “Somehow all four dogs and the cat and I manage to get in the same chair. Moving is forbidden.”

I think I’m most intrigued by the fact that you all are in one chair. With a cat. How does that work? LOL

Jan K said, “The girls will lie next to us, but not on top. Luke likes to lie half on us at times…he tends to settle in pretty well and just stays snuggled wherever he is. Unless he’s snuggling with Dad, and I go in the kitchen…then he has to see what I’m up to!”

I love it when they half lie on me. Once I woke up with Sampson’s head on my shoulder and my heart just about melted. Delilah is like Luke. If you want her to move, all you have to do is head for the kitchen. 😉

Misty Shores Chesapeakes said, “My best snugglers are Riva and Maia, they like to be pinned right next to me or in my lap.”

Oh how I wish mine were snuggly like that.

Delilah mostly snuggles when I’m in bed watching TV. Those times she climbs up on the couch are rare. Sampson won’t climb on the couch, but he will give me the “look” and I usually get down on the floor with him.

Blueberry’s Human said, “Blueberry does the lean and slump. She’ll usually come up when I am in bed watching TV and turn her back to me, then sit right next to my upper legs and lean. If I start petting her, she’ll slowly start tilting her head back til her nose is in the air and then slump backwards across my lap.”

THAT’s how Delilah started! Exactly like that! You wait, it’s coming. 🙂

Sand Spring Chesapeakes said, “Mine will lay next to me and on top of me and not wiggle to much.”.

Nice! Delilah fidgets. A lot. But once she settles in, she’s good. 

Urine Luck

Jan K said, “Next time I’m at the dollar store, I’ll pick this stuff up. It’s best to be prepared, right?”

Siriusly, it’s worth the trip! AND if you never need it, you only spent $2 and you can use the ladle and containers in case of emergency. 😉

Jan said, “I’ve never had to do this. I thought “bring in a urine sample from your dog” was just veterinarian humor.”

Right? No, they’re sirius. Now you know how to do it. 

Blueberry’s Human said, “I use old yoghurt containers (Blueberry Noosa to be precise). I simply walk behind Blueberry into the yard (no leash required!) and as she is squatting I smoothly (that’s right, I’m a pee Ninja too) place the yoghurt container under her and voila! No muss, no fuss. No one was more surprised than I that this worked the first time I tried it.”

That’s awesome! Is it a small container? I’m picturing a container the size of a small pail. LOL

2 Brown Dawgs said, “Whenever I have needed a sample, they have wanted a sterile sample so I had to take the dog or cat in so they could get that.”

I wonder why some vets ask for the sterile sample, while others do not?

Taryn said, “My dogs shut off the flow if they see me coming anywhere near them!”

See, with a ladle, you can be a pee Ninja too! They’ll never see it coming. You can stand there discreetly looking the other way, then viola! You slide that ladle in there and you’re a pee Ninja!

Denise Straulea asked, “Great advice but now she’s peeing on pee pads in her bed, any advice on that?”

Do you guys have any advice for Denise? My thought Denise is why are there pee pads on her bed? Has she been having issues? Did your vet check her to make sure she had no infections?

Julie said, “Love your title and really good idea for getting pee!!”

Thank you, it came to me out of the blue, and it made me giggle. I had to go with it.

Lauren Miller said, “You’re right the metal pan thing is just awkward!! I had to have UA on Zoe last year and it wasn’t fun collecting the pee.”

AND if you are successful with that, how do you transfer the pee from the pan into a smaller container, without getting pee all over you?

Jana Rade said, “By now we’ve become quite the dog urine collecting pros. We too got ourselves a ladle, long handle and a straight cup for lesser chance of spillage. We can collect urine in our sleep.”

It certainly makes it easier, although I have to advise you not attempt this in your sleep. 😉

Sand Spring Chesapeakes said, “I like how you put your kit together and labeled it. It was also so smart to put the time on the bag and keep it in the refrid. most people don’t do this and we like to know how old the urine is.”

Thank you. I only remembered because I’ve done this so much in the past year. They always ask me, where was it stored and what time was it collected, so I thought it why not be proactive?

Jen said, “The title made me die laughing this morning!”

I have to tell you, I was giggling like crazy writing the thing. 😉

I Felt Like An Asshole – Barks and Bytes

Thank you all for the thoughts, prayers and well wishes for Sampson. The hardest part for me has been, well watching him walk for one, but coming to terms with the fact that we probably cannot have the leg repaired because of the heart arrhythmia. 

I know that there are some dogs that can’t have surgical repair and they do manage okay with conservative treatments. When we go for our two week follow-up, I hope to have a plan in place to begin helping Sampson cope with this.

Genevieve said, “My old dog did a partial ACL tear ON LEASH in a barely visible DUSTING of snow. It happens. I felt like an ass because I was egging her on to run around in circles because it was funny and made me laugh. It’s all fun and games till somebody ends up on crate restriction.”

That sucks, though I suppose it’s no different then us.  How many times have a just turned the wrong way and tweaked my back?

Emma said, ” Katie falls a lot, Mom didn’t act quick enough and she fell on our front steps and cut her nose open the other day. Mom feels terrible, but it is life, it happens, we do the best we can, but we will all have problems.”

Oh my gosh, I hope she wasn’t terribly hurt, poor girl. It is so hard as they age. 

Jan K said, “Every time I let Luke run around the yard with his bad knees, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing. But I don’t want to limit his enjoyment of life…I want him to be a dog and enjoy things and that’s exactly what you were doing with Sampson. It’s a risk, yes, but quality of life is so important and I don’t feel like always holding them back is the answer either.”

I agree with you Jan. I really want my dogs to do things they love. I think I felt the worst about having him walk home. It was just so painful to watch.

Hailey and Zaphod said, “Don’t feel like an asshole, these things happen (Phod has been hurt several times and I always blame myself, but then accept it is an accident).”

The realistic part of me knows this, it’s my heart that just aches for him.

That is it for me folks, thanks for joining me and have a wonderful weekend!