What does Halloween mean?

To me it has always meant dressing up (the very best part) and as a kid trick or treat gatherings. Now as an adult with kids all grown it's still dressing up, and also parties at work and costume contests. I still carve pumpkins, still decorate the house and have plenty of candy on hand.

For Finn, Halloween means lots of kids come to the door to see HIM! He gets to sniff them, lick them, and if he could just sneak away quick enough, go trick or treating with them. (He tried!) It's the one time of the year I really get to see how much Finn really loves children.

The first kid that came petted Finn, took his candy and left, and Finn thought that was neat. The second knock on the door was a couple of girls, 9-10ish, who asked if they could pet Finn. I let him out so they could, and there was a lot of licking and giggling. As they walked off I heard one exclaim 'He kissed me on my ear!'

The next group was about 7 kids with parents waiting on the street with flashlights. I asked if they wanted to pet Finn and I got a very loud YES! I let Finn out the door and they all got to pet him and get licked, then Finn saw the people on the street and took off to go say hello. It took a bit of convincing for him come back to the house, he really wanted to walk with them. We had a few more groups, then that was it. Finn waited, looking out the glass door for at least another hour, hoping for more visitors. He absolutely loved seeing all those kids!

Finn wants to know if we can have Halloween every weekend?

Happy Halloween!

There was a wild bull in our house, and a cowboy was trying to ride it.


The bull tried lying down...

Jumping up..

Sudden stops...

But the cowboy stayed on!

I don't know how long the cowboy will last, that bull has eyes of fire!

Birth order - does it matter?

There are many studies on the importance of birth order in humans. How it can determine personality as well as success. I've never seen a study of birth order in dogs, but from my unscientific observation, the studies work just as well for dogs. A friend has two Irish Wolfhound puppies, both male, full brothers but from different litters, about 8 months apart in age.

They follow the classic formula. The first born is serious, worried about getting things right, and feels driven to be perfect. The younger brother is carefree, not worried about anything.

Look at the photos below. Can you tell which is which?




The older brother is on the left. The whole time I was taking photos, he was focused on me, worried about what he was supposed to be doing, what did I want, wondering if he should be protecting his brother. Meanwhile his brother was enjoying life, and thinking "Yay, a human to pet me!"

I don't think birth order in a litter matters, but in a household of several dogs, it could be very important.

A Tale of Tails

Dogs are very expressive with their tails. Since Irish Wolfhounds have such long tails, they have lots of expressions.

The first expression we learned from Finn was unfortunately an unhappy one. He was tired, worried and stressed from his move, and his tail hung straight down, or was curved in under his belly a bit.

Here you can see Finn, tail tucked up.

Here his tail just hangs straight down. Not fearful, just not quite happy.

A confident relaxed wolfhound has a curl at the end of their tail. Each dog is unique in the curl, some just make a 'J' at the end, some curl more.

Here is Finn sniffing something. His attention is on something else, but his tail still has a bit of a curl in it.

Out means confident.

Here is Finn with his 'swagger tail' on a walk around our neighborhood.

Up high means play.


This is Finn and Zack, 5 seconds before they both start to run and play.

It also can be used as a rudder, for sharp turns.
Of course Finn also gets 'Happy Tail' whenever we are heading out for a walk, or when we get home.

A dog owners worst nightmare...

For any dog owner, your worst nightmare is something going seriously wrong. Dogs can't say what is wrong, and why they don't feel good. If you haven't been with them all day, you don't know what has happened (or what they ate).

It becomes a guessing game, while the clock is ticking. For so many problems, catching it early is the only way to avoid serious consequences. For those of us with deep-chested breeds, we have the added worry of bloat and torsion.

So how do you know when your dog is in danger, or already is bloating? That is hard to answer, since every dog reacts their own way. The best advice I can give is remember that you know your dog best, and trust your instincts.

September 9 I came home from work late, (it was a Thursday) and the first thing I noticed was Finn was not at the door to greet me when I got in. Normally he is there, wagging his tail and bouncing around ready for a walk. This evening, he came over after I had gotten in the door, sniffed me, wagged his tail, and went and laid back down on his bed. I remember thinking one of the kids had walked him, and he was tired. Oddly enough, his dish was still full of water from the morning.

I fixed his dinner, and he didn't eat much. But he often doesn't finish his dinner until later. Over the next couple of hours, I started to realize he really wasn't feeling well. He still wasn't drinking, was just lying flat on the floor without moving and when he wouldn't even get up for one of his favorite cookies, I started to get worried. I checked his pulse, 75 (normal), gums were pink, with good refill, but his breathing was fast and shallow, and when he did get up, the back legs were wobbly.

I hopped on Facebook and messaged one of our Irish Wolfhound club members, Judie. She immediately said call her daughter Jodie, and after a quick discussion she advised me to take him to the emergency vet right away. Having gone through bloat with their own dogs, she knew how short a window you have to get help.

I had convinced myself I was being a nervous dog owner and seeing things worse than they are, so to have my fears confirmed was the worse news possible. I have had many dogs in my life, and I have loved all of them but Finn is the dog of my heart so this news devastated me.

My husband helped me get Finn in the car and we drove immediately to the emergency vet, fortunately very close and someone who had worked on Irish Wolfhounds before.

When we got there, Finn immediately started stress panting and his heart rate shot up. (he is terrified of the vet) They checked him over, and suggested x-rays, and here is where I made a big mistake. They insisted on taking Finn in the back to x-ray, and I let them. I should have gone with him. He doesn't do well when I leave him, and with his fear and size, they can't force him to co-operate. After a long time they brought him back, and we looked at the x-rays. He had a lot of gas, but the stomach looked ok and wasn't flipped. BUT he had an oddly shaped mass where his spleen was supposed to be. It could have been a kidney out of place or just viewed oddly (they admitted they had a lot of difficulty getting the x-rays, he fought being held on his back) or it could have been splenetic torsion, where the spleen fills with blood and flips over on itself.

They gave him fluids, and palliative meds for his stomach and intestines, just to tide him through the night and recommended I take him in to my regular vet for an ultrasound. I was to check his pulse through the night, and bring him back if it elevated.

So we took him home, and I was pretty much up all night checking on him and fretting. The next morning I took him in to his regular vet. His vitals were all good, and he was acting like he felt a bit better that morning. Not happy to be at the vet, but some better than the night before. Our vet looked at the x-rays, and agreed an ultrasound would show things better. They had to call in the ultrasound technician, so we waited.

We are not happy.
One advantage to the wait is that it gave Finn time to relax, and get over some of the stress of being at the vet. He did eventually relax a bit. It helps that everyone who ever sees him wants to say hello, and pet him.


Feeling a bit better.
When the ultrasound technician got there, she told me they would have to shave his belly, and that he would have to lay upside down in a cradle for the ultrasound. I told her then I would need to come back with him. She gave me this tolerant look and said "If I need you I will come get you."

Fifteen minutes later she came back, looking rather chagrined and said "I need you." We went back and they had two people holding onto Finn for dear life as he struggled. I put a hand on Finn and told him 'Stay' and he relaxed. They hadn't even been able to shave him, LOL!

As they shaved his belly, we found a long contusion, a bit of dried blood and bruising. I thought perhaps they had done it trying to shave him (I was NOT happy!) but it was too old for that. As I am soothing Finn, and asking him to stay down, I'm trying to figure out how he got hurt. The only time he was alone the day before was a couple hours in the afternoon. We had left the sunroom open so he could go out when he wished, and someone could get in the back yard.

We did the ultrasound and either the spleen was normal now, or we were just able to get a clear picture with Finn co-operating. Everything looked good, but the vet was concerned with his intestines, and gave him meds for Gastroenteritis.

We went home and recovered, Finn slept a lot. He still wasn't eating much, and didn't seem to want to move around. It took about a week before his appetite came back, and almost 3 weeks before his activity level and mood were back to normal.

The week before all this happened I found out about problems with Blue Buffalo Dog kibble. The Chicken formula had made 12 dogs sick. Of course, we had been feeding that to Finn but only as a top dressing for flavor. We discontinued immediately, but I think that was the cause of the gastroenteritis. Finn has always had a delicate stomach.

We also found evidence that someone had been in our back yard, we found some tampering. Our best guess was that Finn surprised whomever was in the yard, and they kicked him or hit him with something (there are poles and rakes in the yard) and that was the cause of the contusion and bruise. I think the combination of the brewing gastro and the injury caused his gas and stomach upset.

I believe we were very lucky. I can't help but think if we hadn't taken him in, he would have bloated sometime in the night, and we would have gotten up to a much worse, possibly fatal situation. So heartfelt thanks to Judie and Jodie for your good advise and help!

PVIWC Fun Show 2010

The day started a bit damp, but spirits were still up. (Besides, the drizzle was pretty authentic!)

Finn at our tent.

Bill and Finn.

Corky and Kelly



For some reason Corky was very intent on the camera, that or he wasn't forgiving me for taking him in the ring and away from his mom!

Love this expression, this is that soulful stare IW can give you.

Love those ears!

Naps are important, no matter where you are.



Judie and the boys.




Agnes, the Lady of the day. 10 years old and counting.

Click here for more photos by Mary O'Mally.

Virginia Scottish Games 2010

Today we went to the Virginia Scottish Games at The Meadows in The Plains, VA. The festival runs for two days, Saturday and Sunday, and is dog friendly! We saw lots of other dogs there.

Scotties,

Westies, all kinds of dogs and even other Irish Wolfhounds. There was a booth for the Westie Rescue, Greyhound Rescue, Shelties, Collies, a dog wading pool and terrier races.

Finn shared some of our fish and chips.

We watched a pipe and drum band perform. I notice Finn was not noise reactive at all, not even when the pipers played right in front of us.

We stopped at the Montgomery booth to cool off in the shade. Finn had a lot of visitors., including some who remembered him from last year.



Eventually he just went to sleep. He was one tired puppy!