doggie drama...part 2

....so on Saturday Alice went in for her follow up appointment at Roscoe Village Animal Hospital (see doggie drama...part 1)...while there, I mentioned to the vet that Gracie had been sick several times over the last 24 hours with obvious signs that she had chewed up and consumed 1/2 of a large, black 'extreme' kong. She said to keep an eye on her and play it by ear...within 2 hours of being back home, things coming out the other end indicated something more serious, so we took her in. They did an exam and xray and it was not good news - pieces of the kong were blocking her lower intestine. They sent us to the Animal Emergency Treatment Center on Belmont for immediate retrieval of what turned out to be the most expensive 3 pieces of kong we would ever see!

Luckily there were no complications and she is at home healing up, her incision is at least 8" long. No more kongs for Gracie, someone suggested deer antlers for pit mixes - got one and she loves it. Here are some photos from the 'canine infirmary': all the drugs for the 2 dogs and...oh yes, in the baggie are the 3 very pricey pieces of retrieved kong! (kind of strange though, only one was black the other two were tan colored...maybe her stomach acid bleached them?)

The staff at AETC were great, and they loved sweet Gracie (who looks much smaller than 60 pounds with that cone on her head). I was taken aback walking into their beautiful contemporary hopital to see all this vacant wall space - whose art do you think would go perfectly in this pet ER? (where people definitely need a reason to smile!) Could have outfitted the place if we had done a trade for the surgery!

A Narrative Portrait of Alice...

This is the long overdue Narrative Portrait that I'm working on of my dog, Alice....

The image below was my initial sketch. There are so many silly things about her, it was hard to narrow it down, but I think these translate well:

Two tails in the house, again...

We headed down to Chicago Animal Care & Control on Saturday, this is the city shelter, basically ground zero for pets in Chicago, they are open every day for adoption (see their site for hours). No animal is turned away from this facility, which means when the other wonderful rescue groups can't take any more, the only way these pets find homes is for you and me to go down and adopt them. This would not be possible without the incredible volunteers who are responsible for taking the dogs outside, playing with and socializing them, as well as showing them to potential adopters - such important advocates, as they get to know the dogs and can offer feedback to potential owners. Sadly the city, does not provide enough resources, the volunteers are critical. It's so tough seeing all these sweet, innocent dogs, waiting alone in their kennels just wanting a little love and a home.Several caught our eyes and hearts but the one that pulled the
strongest, for both Rich and I, was 11 month old pit mix, Poppy. She had been
there since early July, very sweet and quiet, yet quite lively when we
got her outside. We decided to go home and get Alice. The meet and greet went
well...not instant best friends but definitely comfortable around one
another and tails wagging. So we proceeded with the adoption, which only costs $65, and that includes the dog license and spay/neuter.  We had our
adoption interview with Charles Craft, an amazing advocate for
these dogs and the head of the adoption program for the city and
Fostering Program through Friends of Animal Care and Control. We had corresponded in the past when I did art work for CACC, so it was an honor to finally meet him. (You can see other adoptable pets on PetFinder.com).On the drive home Poppy (who they told us was originally Pippi, and we just named Gracie!) draped herself over me and melted into my
lap with a sigh.It took a bath Saturday with a follow up shower on Sunday to fully remove the Eau De CACC perfume she was wearing.I'm sure she was relieved on Monday to find that bathing was not going to become a daily ritual in her new home!She is a very skinny little girl with a very LONG neck...so long that she can counter surf, this is new behavior to us. Izzy had a few episodes early on...but this girl, you have to keep an eye on! Did I mention we think she might have some Great Dane in her?We have some work to do with Gracie, she and Alice will need some time to bond, but soon, I'm sure she will fit in. This has all been a little bittersweet. It's the sad realization that we are really moving on, left with only our memories of Izzy...as we open our broken hearts back up and make new ones with Gracie.