Specialist Vet Visit

Rio saw Dr. Jonathan Anderson, a veterinary surgeon, on Monday afternoon. Dr. Anderson is the vet who diagnosed Rio's lumbar sacral disease back when he was in foster care. It was hard watching Dr. A poke Rio to get him to yelp in order to understand where it hurt. Rio pretty much yelped on each muscle group, which unfortunately gave Dr. A no information on what is really the problem.

He decided to take Rio back for a consult with another surgeon (the owner of the practice) and a neurological expert. Sadly they couldn't figure out why Rio is limping. Dr. A said we could run tests but it would be a "fishing" expedition, looking for anything that might be an issue. He really didn't want to do that, and neither did I want to pay for any unnecessary tests.

We had Rio walk up and down the parking lot to see if he would limp. He did mildly off and on.

At the end the recommendation is to take him off of his gabapentin and see what happens. Dr. A. said he would consult with surgeons from around the country to see if anyone else had any ideas.

For a treat I took Rio to the off leash park by Observatory Hill. He was limping like a champ. Why couldn't he do it at the vet's office? It's like the noise the car makes until the mechanic takes a look at it, then it hums along.

By the way, the vets office is brand new and looks better than my own doctor's office. Rio wanted to visit with everyone and go into every door. He was very tolerant of all of the poking and prodding. At one point he looked at me as if to say "make it stop, please" but we had to continue to see if we could figure this out. My heart was breaking.

So no news, good or bad.

Extreem Shepherding

I'm not sure how much of this is real, but it is a fun video to watch.



Rio sees his specialist vet this afternoon. Will report after we get home.

Boys Bonding Day or How I Abondoned My Family

Grant and Rio had to fend for themselves on Saturday as I had been asked to help out at the renovation of the Assembly Hall in Coraopolis. What that meant for me is I had to be on the road by 6:15 a.m. and I didn't get home until about 6 p.m. What that meant for Grant and Rio is they had to hang with each other.

Grant said all went well as I knew it would. One funny thing happened when I came home. Grant saw me pull up in my car so he sent Rio out to the back yard so I would "magically" appear when Rio came back into the house. I came in and Grant headed out the front to check on the mailbox which is located just below our front porch.

I let Rio in and was a bit disappointed he wasn't too excited to see me. He just got inside when he heard a noise at the front door. He ran to the front door and saw Grant coming back into the house. Then the penny dropped. He figured out it was me who let him back in the house. So he spun around and raced back to me, jumping on me and giving my face a thorough wash. I was also inspected from head to toe. I'm sure I smelled interesting with all of the sawdust I had on me.

Silly puppy.

Just a side note, for some odd reason I can't comment on my own blog. I am reading all of your comments, so keep them coming.

Warhol Rio

Made with the Warholizer.

Foggy Morning Walk

We had thick fog this morning on our walk.

Lake Elizabeth



Still trees



Dogs on a knoll



Pearl fetches a ball

Sphinxing

Greyhounds have a way of lying down so that their butts don't touch the ground. The pose is the same pose that Egypt's famous Sphinx is doing.

Rio doesn't sphinx too much. The only time we see it is when he is playing with his little green monster. I managed to catch Rio sphinxing this afternoon. We are having rain all day so Rio burned off a bit of energy attacking the monster. Afterward he retired to his bed. In a sphinx position.



This is what it looks like from above.



The pose didn't last long. It probably isn't very comfortable.

From the Archives: Dirty Boy

From the summer of 2008 - Rio in the strawberry patch.