Co Best Dogs

October 4, 2014- Olivia and Griffin officially welcomed Nate into the Bulldog Brigade.

The wedding weekend was filled with nonsense.

I accidentally let the camp golf cart roll down the hill, crashing into the propane tank for the building, causing a (minor) gas leak. The rehearsal cookout and campfire had to be moved inside due to rain, and then there was a power outage. The day of the wedding was 37 degrees and despite several reasonable conversations throughout the day with several members of the wedding party and family, I didn't actually agree to move the wedding inside until 45 minutes before the ceremony.

Sometime between photos and the actual wedding, Olivia got bit or stung by something and her eyes swelled almost completely shut. She was fine, but I was a wreck and about halfway through the reception, despite my AMAZING staff checking on her and bringing me photos every 20 minutes, I went back to the cabin for about a half hour where I hiked up my wedding dress and sat down on the floor to hold my swollen baby.

Disasters aside, it was a fabulous, memorable, spectacular 3 day celebration with all of our family and friends. And for better or worse, sickness and health, Nate agreed to love all of us forever. 

Here are some pictures of the co-best dogs looking their finest (and I'd like to note that they were on perfect behavior the entire time!)... 

Time Flies

I don't know where the last 2 months went, but my how time flies. Between the end of the camp season in August and getting married October 4, I feel like I blinked and all of a sudden it's the middle of October.

Healthy happy dogs, a new baby nephew, mostly beautiful weather, lots of fun events with family and friends- I can't complain, it's been a great few months with the Bulldog Brigade.

Griffin and Olivia were gorgeous, perfect co-best dogs for our wedding. I am SO eager to get the pictures back and will share them ASAP. In the meantime, here are some shots from the past 2 months.

 

On the way to camp for the wedding.
Olivia checks out the beverage selection for the upcoming event! 

Wedding week at camp!
Sharing a snack with Auntie Megan. 

Grif was incredibly helpful as we set up the parking lot.
He had some thoughts about the placement of the lines,
so he took it upon himself to move the stakes...

Wedding morning!!

Resting before the big event!

Resting before the big event!

Trying on her wedding necklace

Trying on his wedding outfit.

Nate and Olivia "selfie"

Olivia at Camp

Griffin spent the last 2 weeks of camp at home with Nate and my mom (while Nate was away on a business trip for a few days). Home was cleaner, calmer, cooler and more controlled than camp and he's making a great recovery.

While Grif was away, Olivia had a FABULOUS time at camp by herself. Because Griffin is more prone to running in front of cars, falling int he lake, eating something he shouldn't and any number of other risk factors, the camp dogs don't get the sort of freedom they would like. But with Grif at home, Olivia was basically able to roam free and she spent about 12 hours a day hanging out with me, the kids, and the staff. She was in heaven! It was a great way to end the summer for her!

Olivia getting painted

Olivia at the dance party- happy to be in the middle of the action!

Riding around with the lead staff on the golf cart

Chillin with campers 

Olivia was directly under the tie dye table and ended up getting pretty colorful herself

Always in the middle of things

chillin with the campers

All camp game would not be complete with the camp dog!

Olivia almost lost her mind when she came out for all camp dodgeball and found all of these balls! 

Exhausted after playing with all the balls she could ever imagine 

The balls were still on the field and ready to be put away when 10 minutes after the game ended, we heard 3 loud pops in a row as balls popped- I looked out the office door to see a lot of movement and realized Olivia had gone back to the field and had gotten herself into the bag of balls!

Not happy to be home after a very fun summer!

How Much Money Would You Spend?

How much is your dog worth to you? Priceless? Yeah, that's what everyone says, but when you have to actually put a price on him, what is your limit?

Last week, Grif started to look a little under the weather. He didn't want to eat or come out with us to play. By the end of the week, he wasn't eating or moving much at all. His timing was good since we already had a weekend trip planned, so I figured we'd swing into the vet, get some antibiotics and snap him out of it. 4 hours and $700 later, the vet had done a CT scan, an ultrasound, x-rays and multiple blood tests and she still didn't know what was wrong with him. She prescribed a steroid and antibiotic, which would treat a variety of possible issues, she mentioned a lot of scary potentials that it could be and we planned a follow up visit for Tuesday.

Yesterday, we got to the vet and his red blood cell count had dropped, he wasn't any better and after several vets looked at his ultrasounds, she was concerned that he might have a splenic torsion, but she couldn't be sure. So she sent me across town to a different vet- a specialist that you can only see by referral. "The Mayo Clinic of vets". They agreed that it looked like a splenic torsion and worried it could be a few other scary things too. A splenic torsion is when the spleen gets twisted around itself, cutting off blood supply. You can live without your spleen, especially dogs.

A splenic torsion is very rare and after about 50 pages of google, I can't find a cause for it. It can just flip. That's what the vet said too, but I hate that answer. It's so random and illogical. There has to be a REASON.

So once again, Grif was whisked off to emergency surgery to have his spleen removed. They thought he might need a blood transfusion too, and they were going to poke around and make sure everything else looked okay while they were in there. Price tag- $5000. Gulp. A new record, even for my special needs dog.

My options were take him home and let him die a slow death (not in a million years), euthanize him or give them $5000 to do surgery. All terrible options. But you would have had to sedate me and drag me out of that vet at gun point before I could approve euthanasia on my baby. There's just no way. $5000 is crazy, and every time I type it, I feel a little sick to my stomach. But I guess I don't have a price tag on him.

Last night he came out of surgery not having needed a blood transfusion and they didn't find anything else out of the ordinary. He is recovering nicely and will get out of the hospital tonight or tomorrow morning.

I had to go back to camp. I've had several breakdowns over the past 24 hours at the thought of going back to camp without him. I am starting to think our co-dependence issue is more of me needing Grif with me, than the other way around. I was paralyzed all morning, unable to leave home to drive back to camp.

Nate is going to pick him up and work from home on Thursday. My mom is coming over Friday. Nate is going to be home all weekend. And then he might bring him to me at camp on Sunday. Camp is dirty and there is a lot going on, so I know being at home where it is quiet and nice and cool and he can rest and recover is the best place for him. But being separated is KILLING me. I am so incredibly tense and anxious and I feel like part of me is missing. I have one more week of camp before the end of the summer, so it is possible he will just stay home until then, depending on how recovery goes. I HATE the thought of it. But I am incredibly thankful for Nate and my mom for taking care of him while I am away. I'm thankful for my exceptional staff who ran camp without me and especially Abby who took amazing care of Olivia, so I could be at home. I'm thankful I had the means to save my baby, even if it is more money than I wanted to spend. I know I'm lucky (and so is Grif), but I am still stressed out.

Ugh. Special needs dog strikes again. He's KILLING me.

A few bulldog pictures from the past few weeks-

My little snuggler

Riding back to camp, Olivia uses Grif as a pillow

Snuggling

Olivia hanging out with her camp friends

Grif at the vet before surgery