Big Paws Only Dog Forums

5 months ago, I asked my vet for her honest opinion on Roxie's weight, to which she said 'slightly' overweight.  So, since then, I've been feeding her 'slightly' less Iams Healthy Naturals dry food (around 2 cups a day, down from 2.5), and I've also added more running and less walking into her everyday routine.

Fast forward to today, when I returned to have her bordetella shots updated.  I was secretly expecting to hear a compliment on how she'd returned to a healthy weight, but the staff actually freaked out when the initial weigh-in revealed she'd lost just over 8 pounds since her last visit (going from 63 to 55 lbs.).

I really didn't think it was any big deal, considering her weight loss occurred under what was essentially a diet, and over a span of 5 months - however, the vet was concerned enough that she asked to see her again in 2 weeks (despite admitting that her weight appears 'just fine').

So the questions I'm left with are:

1) Is there anything to be worried about? 
2) If so, what?

Pretty much the only time I smile in the morning is when I sit down to read about the daily adventures of everyone's favorite cartoon dog, Marmaduke. 

Well, last Sunday's strip was so apropos of my driving experiences with Roxie, that I felt obligated to share.  Surely, most of you can relate it to your dog, as well.

Enjoy!

Company to reprint yearbooks after head switching

McKINNEY, Texas - School officials say they are appalled by altered photos — including heads on different bodies — in hundreds of McKinney High School yearbooks delivered this week.

Besides the head and body switching, some necks were stretched, one girl's arm was missing, and another girl's head was placed on what appeared to be a nude body, with the chest blurred.

A spokeswoman for Minnesota-based Lifetouch National School Studios Inc. said the alterations were "an unfortunate lapse in judgment" by an employee but didn't believe it was malicious.

The high school had required Lifetouch to make heads the same size and eyes at the same level in all student photos, company spokeswoman Sara Thurin Rollin said Saturday. The request was "unusual and definitely very particular, but that's not to suggest what happened here is acceptable," she said.

Rollin declined to say if the company fired or reprimanded the employee who altered the images. She said Lifetouch is taking full responsibility for the altered pictures, about 30 in all, and will pay to have the publication reprinted before the seniors graduate.

Lori Oglesbee, the school's yearbook adviser at McKinney High School, said the yearbook staff would spend the weekend rebuilding the yearbook.

McKinney is about 20 miles north of Dallas.

Back for the next couple of minutes.

My brother came over to help me move some stuff today, and I asked him to bring his digital camera (I've since given my old junker away), so I could get some recent pictures of Roxie for everybody. 

Make sure you click on them to see the full-sized version, and enjoy!


"WHY did you wake me up?"


"Okay, now what?"


"Shall I pose?"


"Okay, I'm going back to sleep now."


My response: Alright then, I'll just take a picture of A PRETTIER dog.


"Fine then, who needs ya!!?!!"


"Wait a minute, are we going outside?!?!?!"

Now, lemme pause the action by saying that I switched over to video footage at this point.  I got a ton of hilarious stuff but, unfortunately, it's about 45 minutes completely unedited, so it'll have to be cut down first. 

Hopefully I'll be able to get that up eventually, but don't hold your breath.  I did get one more picture though, as the outdoor fun was coming to an end:


That's the back of my neck Roxie's hugging on.  We had fun.

Anyway, I gotta run.  Thanks to everyone that I haven't yet thanked who wished me well on my birthday last month.  Can't wait to return to BPO for good...

Miss all you ladies (and KP, in a non-pervy kinda way).   Hope all is well with everybody.

No, this isn't spam for porn.  It's actually something that's been happening with my mom's 2 dogs - an older Golden Lab/Chow mix named Lizzie and a younger Rottweiler mix named Rookie.  An older woman.  A younger man.  Oh, the forbidden love.

Anyway, the two of them have been playful and friendly since the day I brought Rookie home in 2002 (as is evidenced in the following picture):



But, here in the past few months, it's gotten just a little bit absurd.  The two of them will be inside playing with eachother, when suddenly they stop and go into an open-jawed, esophagus-tickling french kiss; their tongues rattling back and forth like two tongues on a see-saw.  This lasts for several awkward moments. 

Both dogs have been 'fixed', so that's not an issue.  Normally I wouldn't even bring it up, but the more I see it, the less it remains "funny" or "cute".  Now, I see it as "disgusting" and "a reason for jealousy".

Any ideas?

I've shared a house with no less than 3 dogs since I was born, and Roxie has a long list of behavioral firsts - but probably the funniest is the fact that she loves anything shiny (solidifying her femininity in my eyes ), and will 'groom' anything shiny in a vigorously obsessive manner.  (By groom, I mean nibbling on it with her front teeth.)

I'm talking jewelry, earrings, coins, paperclips, plastic wrapping, even the inside part of potato chip bags.  If it is shiny, she will groom it and she will groom it well. 

She seems to do it, in particular, when she's waiting on something.  A lot of times she'll track me down in the house and let me know that she needs to go outside.  If I'm busy and tell her 'no', I virtually always hear the tell-tale munch within a minute.  The munching will last until I'm so annoyed by it that I have to get up and give her what she wanted.

Like I said, this is the first on a long list for Roxie, but what does your dog do that you've never seen from another dog?

Snow only comes a few times a year around here, and Roxie always gets excited - until she ventures off of the front porch and slides her skinny little bones deep into the cold white stuff.  Sadness inevitably ensues...


"Help me, I'm frozen."


"Can we go back inside now?"


"Please?"


"I don't care if we've only been out here for 45 seconds."


"Finally!"

Hehe...  Might try and get some more shots in the FIRST 15 seconds, if we go out again today.