I forgot to mention that we got a new dog. I use the term "got" loosely. She was found hiding under our neighbors truck about three months ago and we took her in. She was super cute and so mellow, AT FIRST. Noah loved her and decided that her name was, Penny. Ok. I thought she would be a good addition to our home because Harley isn't a spring chicken and if, heaven forbid, something happened to him, Ember would have a friend. Penny's temperament was fantastic--Noah could pretty much pull and prod her all he wanted and she loved every minute of it. Well, after about a week of being with us she began to exhibit normal puppy behavior. And by normal puppy behavior, I mean she ate EVERYTHING. My brand new rug, my Thanksgiving decorations, TWO of my Bibles (which leads me to believe that she is a devil worshiping dog), some of Noah's toys, and several dog beds. It was at the point when I was having to clean up white dog hair every day (a thirty minute daily cleaning task that I didn't need), I decided that maybe three dogs wasn't a good idea. I tried to find a home for her, and potentially found one, but then David told me that he really liked her and wanted to keep her. I knew how much Noah loved her too and I started to feel guilty about giving Noah's dog away. Needless to say she is still with us, and is staying.
Around three weeks ago we started noticing that she was struggling to get up from a sitting position. Weird, considering she is only seven months old. I took her to the vet and one set of pain pills, an X-ray, and $300 later, we discovered that, unfortunately she has severe genetic hip displasia, which usually only affects older, larger dogs.
Her hips look like the second one. The hip socket is wide and allows her hip bones to pop out of socket very easily. Poor baby.
The good news is that she isn't in pain and will be able to lead a fairly normal life. The bad news is that it will give her problems her whole life, especially during the cold months, and eventually we might have to deal with some pain issues. To look at her you would never know that she has hip displasia; it certainly doesn't slow her down. My poor other dogs are probably thinking, "Why did you bring home this alligator that keeps biting us in the neck??" But the truth is that when I leave with her they miss her and wonder where she is.
So, now we are a three dog family. Sorry if my house smells like dogs. y.u.c.k.
Apparently she even likes to eat hair.
