15 Day Disabled List

When you participate in many physical activities as we do (running, chasing squirrels, barking at strangers, etc), you're bound to come across an injury from time to time.  Unfortunately, one of us has an issue with our impeccible physical condition.

A few weeks ago, Desi came up limping after a hard day of playing in the back yard.  Most of the time, Desi seems to be fine as she does not limp at all.  However, after a long run or a few sudden bursts around the yard, Desi starts to limp once her muscles cool down.

Desi's owners decided to let her rest for a few days in hopes that some rest and relaxation would be all that she needs to recovery.  This strategy was attempted a few times and unfortunately, Desi is not getting any better as she still has a limp.  With all 'home remedy' options exhausted, Desi now must go to the vet this weekend to get her leg checked out.

We mention Desi's injury because we want to make sure that you're aware of any injuries that your canine may be experiencing.  Obviously, a limp probably indicates an injury to your dog, but there are other signs to look for.

If your dog is shaking, that may be a sign of an injury (or the dog has indigestion or an internal issue).  When a dog shakes, many times that means the dog is experiencing some level of pain and you probably need to address the shaking by calling the vet.

If your dog is lethargic, that may be another indicator that your dog may need medical attention.  A normally active dog who suddenly shows limited energy levels and/or just won't move at all is another sign that you need to contact your vet.

I hope these few tidbits of info help when dealing with a possible canine injury or illness.  Being canines, we can't talk, so we trust our owners to look out for physical signs that we're communicating to them.  Remember, we're there in your time of need, so please be there in our time of need.

Until next time,

The Long Road Ahead

Good evening faithful fans of the Toes n Tails gang!

We'll just get this out of the way right now.  We do not have pics of our new member Hadley at this point.  Hadley's owner was supposed to send us a photo or two and she has not come through yet with the pics.  We know in our last post that a pic was promised, so we hope you can forgive us for the delay.

Now getting down to the business of the day.  Our owner is training for a marathon and he has decided to bring us along for the training sessions.  Running with our owner is bittersweet.  What is sweet is that we get to get out and stretch our legs, get some great exercise, and let the neighborhood animals know that we still are the king and queen of the neighborhood (that includes other dogs, cats, squirrels, rabbits, birds, and any other unfamiliar creature that crosses our path).   What is bitter is that one, our owner doesn't actually let us chase after these critters and two, sometimes the courses that he maps out are extremely long (over 10 miles is long to us).

However, when you look at the big picture, the training runs are great for us.  The fact that we both have gained a few extra pounds over the winter is something that our vet brought up during our last visit and to get back to our tip-top spring and summer shape, we need to drop a few pounds.  By the time our owner is ready for the marathon (May 1), photographers and onlookers will be quite impressed with our toned, athletic bodies (having our photograph taken is second nature at this point of our lives as we are very easy on the eyes (and camera lenses)).

Before signing off, we would like to recommend that if you have a dog, the warm spring weather is right around the corner, so get out and get some exercise with your pup!  After a nice walk or run, you will feel better and your pup will feel better!  Daily or frequent walks with your canine is about as good as it gets and both of you will benefit, so in the words of an unnamed goliath shoe company, "just do it."

We're back!

Hello old friends,

Yes, it's been quite some time since we've posted, but fortunately for you, we are back online!  We could make up any number of excuses, but the truth is, we're canines and we have no concept of time.  For us, the fact that we haven't posted in an hour, a day, a month, or a year is really not something you can blame us for because we truly have no clue how long it's been.

A quick update on us.  We (Desi and Rocky) doing fabulous for the most part.  Desi needs a new pink collar (thanks Rocky) and Rocky needs to lose about 15-20 'winter' pounds (thanks Rocky), but other than those small matters, we are doing suburb.

We do have some big news to share.  The pack has a new member and her name is Hadley.  Hadley is around 6 months old (from what we hear, because we have no idea how old any dog is) and she is part Golden Retriever and part German Shepard.  Hadley joined the crew after being rescued by some really nice people who cleaned her up, feed her, and loved her until she found a permanent home.  A few of you may have pure breed dogs, which is fine with us, but if you ever get a chance to rescue a dog, we highly recommend it as rescues are some of the best dogs in all the land.

We will try to get a pic of Hadley to post on the blog so all of our faithful followers can get a glimpse of the new pup on the block.  However, we must go now as our owner is removing baked chicken out of the oven as we type and if we do not get to his side soon, he may not think we're interested in obtaining a bite or two of what smells like (to us) the most incredible thing we've ever smelled in our ktichen.

Until next time,