I started having some weird breathing issues when I got super excited, not just Chance excited, and had my head level or down so my people took me to the vet yesterday.

I got x-rays and it looks like I have Collapsing Trachea.  Both my vet and rehab vet say it's a weird spot for it and that big dogs don't usually get it.  My trachea also doesn't run where it should.

We're waiting for the radiologist to look at the x-rays and my rehab vet gave my people some ideas when we saw her yesterday for my monthly appointment.

My people thought that was going to be the diagnosis.  My woman says the big dogs don't usually get this explains why all the really nice harnesses for this condition are sized for small dogs!

I had a good rehab vet appointment.  My muscle tone was good, I had very few issues, both knees were in good shape, and I'd put on muscle mass.  The vet said I was a 3-4 out of 4 on muscle mass now.

My Man:  Had a mole removed from his head last month and is still wearing a bandaid on his head.  The hole in his tummy is all healed up and his surgeon said he doesn't need to see him any more.

Me:  Doing pretty good but won't have internet for I don't know how long.

My Man: He is getting better but will be home longer than the humans thought - he was going to leave me on Friday but not anymore.  He had another thing of old blood come out last week but it was by the one my woman has been putting stuff in so the surgeon cut it open so it made 1 big hole. 
The one where old blood came out where the surgical drain was now has a bandaid over it. 
He has 2 appointments this week - 1 with his people vet and 1 with his surgeon.

Me: I've been keeping my man exercised so he stays healthy.
I saw my vet eye doctor and she says I have something called Corneal Endothelial Degeneration which means the pump cells that keep fluid from building up in my corneas are having problems.  I have NSAID eye drops I take twice a day for that and may need a salt ointment to get rid of the extra fluid if it gets worse.  The rest of my eye diseases were doing good.  I have to take my steroidal eye drop once a day for my Pannus.  The corneal disease can't use steroids because it can cause water blisters to form and my Pannus needs steroids!
I had the rest of my annual.  My vet came out to draw blood and recheck the lump on my gum and the one behind my shoulder.  Neither lump had grown so we're watching them.  I got put on Zyrtec because I have started having some issues that appear to be due to the pollen this year.  I sound like I'm breathing underwater if my head is down or turned a certain way and have been bringing up lots of mucus and hocking something up that I chew.  It goes away when the pollen count is low.  So we all think my megaesophagus pocket is collecting my post-nasal drip and causing the raspy sounds when my head is a certain way.  My people have started giving me 1 Zyrtec in the morning and 2 in the afternoon since my vet said I could take 2-3.  That way, if I have the mucus stuff, I have a better chance of getting at least some of my Zyrtec in my system before it wears off from the day before.
I saw my rehab vet and got so worked up I had the breathing stuff.  She did a bunch of acupuncture and had them do cold laser on my whole spine.  The person after me forgot to bring the dog so the rehab vet came back while we were waiting for the laser to get set up and fed me some cheese from their fridge!
The pollen count is pretty high today but I'm doing pretty good so far.
I  get to go swimming on Saturday!

My Woman: Still alive.

I know I haven't been around much but 3 weeks ago my man had some problems and ended up having emergency surgery.  My woman said something about "hernias" and "bowel" and "strangulation."

He's getting all better and was home 3 days later.  I've been helping take care of him until he can go back to work.  

When I have time, I'll post some pictures and stuff!

Friday was my 12th birfday.  I went for a birfday walk, opened presents (I got 2 treats, a squeaky ball, and a glow-in-the-dark ball), hung out outside when it wasn't raining, had a Sonic bacon burger, and got to go to the money place where I get cash and treats!  It was a pretty good day!

It's been really rainy here.  The creek by my house has been flooding the path and some of my trails are flooded.  My grass is really long and touches my butt when I pee but my people say it's too wet to mow.

In the past week, I've found a baseball and 2 playground balls to bring home from the school. 
Yesterday I helped my man use his fire stick to bend the last 2 metal supports for my truck bed.  We had to come in before making sure they were bent right because it started raining harder.

I went swimming at the pool I go to when my usual one is closed.  My usual one was open but my people think I like the other pool better because the water isn't as hot, the ramp isn't as steep, and there's a flat place for me to stand when I play splash.  My people say I spend more time swimming at this pool than the other one that has warmer water.  My woman made a bunch of appointments with them to see if it's true.  I like to jump off the flat spot at the bottom of the ramp at this pool!  I was crazy and spent way more time swimming in this pool than I do the other one.  I was even going to take my ball down to the woman who owns the place and see if she wanted to play too but my people told me I'm not supposed to go wandering off on my own.

My birfday is in 4 days!  I turn 12 years old.  My people say that's not bad for a Puppy Butt that shouldn't have lived!!  I've been busy helping my woman with my birfday candy bar wrappers even though we don't have any candy bars yet.

I helped my man work more on my bed for the back of the truck.  My truck didn't come with a back seat so I get a bed like what is in the Jeep.

I have new neighbors.  I met them last week and they are OK with me hanging out in the shade of their front yard.  They don't have a dog.  That's all I know about them.

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Hi everyone!  Sorry it’s been so long since my last update.  I got busy helping my woman with her aromatherapy stuff.  Thanks to me, she’s now a Certified Animal Aromatherapy Practitioner.  I also had to help her update her website to make it look more professional.

Even though I was busy with that, I still had to make the time to take my man out for his morning walks, play with friends, kill basketballs I found, bark at cats and dragons, work on my bed platform for the back seat of the truck, go swimming, go to my rehab vet, and make sure no one stole the neighborhood!

My vet came to my house last month to stick me with needles, look in my mouth, and put my pee in a jar (humans are gross!)  My woman said they were there to look at a lump in my mouth and behind my shoulder, steal my blood for something called a “heartworm test,” and do a “urinalysis.”  She said she thought my eyes looked a little cloudier than they did last year.  No one knows what the lump behind my shoulder is and she isn’t sure what the lump in my mouth is but my pee was good and the vet said no heartworm.

Last week, I saw my rehab vet, who mistook me for a pincushion, and she said my eyes were cloudier than last month so Monday my woman called my eye doctor.  They can’t get me in before my regular May appointment and said I had to start using my eye drops twice a day.  If something happens before my appointment, she can send me to one of the specialty clinics in our area that has eye doctors.  I don’t think she’s too worried because I still see fine for my age.  Oh, my rehab appointment went good and my people only have to do “sideways walking” with me which is weird but I have never minded it.

I get to go swimming this weekend and I’m getting ready for my 12th birfday!

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My people got really happy a couple of nights ago.  My Woman was so happy, she was swearing... which sounds really weird to tell you she was happy but swearing!

My Woman was on her tiny thing she uses to take pictures of me, play games, and do something called "text" when it happened.

I was pretty much asleep so I wasn't really listening when she told my Man.

It had something to do with a news story about the state filing to shut down 2 rescues. 
She said the state's Department of Justice said the owners were running for-profit "rescues" with non-profit status from the IRS, failing to report millions of dollars in income, using rescue money for personal use, operating without a required kennel license, not keeping the required records, misrepresenting themselves as licensed animal behavior experts or veterinarians, lying about the health of dogs they adopted out, repossessing dogs for alleged contract breeches, and more.

My people said something about me possibly getting the justice I deserve for the way I was treated and the lack of medical care that would have killed me.

My Man had a bunch of time off for Barkmas this year so we got to do lots of stuff.  He was off on the 18th and didn't go back until the 2nd. 

I got to play Santa Chance at my rehab vet, my vet, my friend's training place where I get get kibble in the morning (never call them treats because I will shun you for life), and the vet clinic where the vet techs carry treats for me in case we meet in the parking lot before they open.  I also took stuff to neighbors and dog friends.

We got the bed and nightstands moved from my room into my Woman's old room.  We got the stuff that needed to be moved from upstairs put into my room.  We got the stuff from my Woman's room moved upstairs.  This was all done by his 1st day of vacation.  
I like having my Man's stuff in my room.  He has tables for his trains and I have a bed under one of the tables.  That makes 2 comfy beds in my Boy-and-Boo cave!!  I use them both too.

We also started on my bed for the back seat of the truck.  There's no seat back there so I can't ride in the truck.  It will be like my Jeep bed and my Man says there's plenty of places to attach it too!

The neighborhood was a little sad though this Barkmas.  My neighbor Buddy lost his Woman the day my Man's vacation started :-( 

Just before Barkmas, our old outdoor lights started to dim so my Man went to several Ace Hardwares and found enough lights to replace them.  After they did that, they found out the problem was caused by 1 strand of lights that was corroding.  So, we have lights that wrap around the beam, run around the outside of my window, and run between the posts like before but we also have lights that wrap around the top rail and the stair railings.  I can see really good outside on my porch with the porch lights off now!

Barkmas was a good one.  My people realized on Barkmas day that Whole Foods made a mistake with our prime rib order.  It was way bigger than they ordered.  It wouldn't fit in our roasting pan!  So, they hacked off what wouldn't fit, which was several pounds, and I got to eat the boneless prime rib meat as part of my raw meals :-)  It was nummy!  I got to eat cooked roast in place of my normal raw meal that night.  My people almost lost fingers it was so good.
I got a bunch of toys from neighbors, Santa brought me some treats, and my people got me a tetherball made out of playground ball material and 3 stuffed animals.  
When I found out Santa had made it into the house yet again without me noticing, I had to run around to all the rooms where I have buried my treats to make sure that fat bastard didn't steal anything.

I got 2 new soccer balls over Barkmas break.  One was at the school and the other was at my house.

Up next time: New Year's, Fence Emergency, Man's Birfday, SONIC

​A few Barkmas pictures.