Stay Danny Stay

A while back, one of Danny's trainers taught us this trick to calm him when he's scurrying around. It's supposed to work whether or not there's food involved, but Danny is a slave to his stomach so thus far it only works when he has some sort of incentive.

He's chained up in these pics cos the floor was getting cleaned and after his incident, the last thing we want is Danny lapping up soapy water. (Yes, Danny, it smells of roses but I don't think your liver can take another blow!) But the trick works when he's free too.

Seeing he was such a good boy with just one cracker, we decided to up the ante...

On a seperate occasion, I managed to surround him with crakers and make him stay for a good 3 minutes. Yay! Success!

The down side is you need to keep an eagle eye on him or the temptation is just too great. Ah well...it's still an improvement!

For better or for worse

As each day goes by, Danny is getting visibly better.

On his first day back, walking a few steps would make him pant.

On the second day, he could prop himself up at the dining table to check out what we were having.

On the third day, he tried to bark with the neighbour's dog but could only emit a growl.

On the fourth day, he joined in the doggie chorus.

On the fifth day, he could scuttle around a bit without breaking a sweat.

On the sixth day, he was protesting being confined in the air-con study with me and scratched the door and yelped to be let out.

And, as his energy returns, so do the pitchfork and tail.

Yesterday, I scolded him for the first time since he came home when he barked at me to share my lunch. First time I scolded him all week. (Normally I'm yelling at him everyday.)

Today he tried to snatch dad's socks - got yelled at again.

Hubby is really happy though. He said that this meant that Danny was getting better. (I was surprised cos he's been trying to make Danny a lap dog ever since he arrived.)

It's true, and yes, we are glad. But I think I'm with dad when he said with an air of resignation, "When Danny gets better, he gets worse."

"I'm back!"

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

Danny's much better now!

"Thanks everyone for your prayers and concern!"

(He's a little scruffy in this pic cos he was scheduled for a grooming session when he got sick.)

It's been a week since his fit and so far no repeat. We've been watching him like a hawk. His blood test came back and showed he has some serious liver damage. The vet said that it was partly caused by the severe fit and partly by something he ingested that damaged his liver.

Danny had been running around the garden the whole morning so he could have nibbled on something toxic at some point though I really can't think what it could be!

As we all know by now, he has this tendency to nom on all objects regardless of material. Case in point, on his first day back, we turned our backs for a couple of minutes and found him with a piece of styrofoam in his mouth. Sigh.

Well, at least now we know what went wrong. The new revelation saw me hauling him back to the vet for a jab and to pick up more meds. (Add another $150 to the mounting bill. Expensive dog, no?)

Still despite the scary test results, the only sign of his sick liver is that Danny's energy level isn't at 100%. He sleeps a lot more and doesn't scurry around like the house is on fire. But he still has the old Danny spirit.

In the last week, he has:
1) Made off with used tissue with paint on it, which I had to pry from his jaws.
2) Tried to snatch mom's slippers twice. I say "tried" cos the extra weight made him tired and he dropped it after a few feet.
3) Hauled the floor cloth up from the basement (Dropped it midway past the stairs, like I said, not 100%.)
4) Poked his nose into the kitchen dustbin 4-5 times but got caught. (Not as fast as he used to be.)
5) Barked at me when I refused to share my lunch.
6) Tried to steal my lunch when I got up to get ketchup. (Couldn't reach. Too short. No energy to jump.)
7) Woke me up with his yelping this morning.

Think of what he could have accomplished if his liver was fine.

"I'm up on all fours and trying my best to be naughty again!"