The Tillminator

In November 2012, we had our 13yo Yorkie Max put down.  He was blind and feeble, and had taken a fall that day, and I ultimately made the decision that it was time.  That was the only time I have ever seen my husband, Matt, cry.  

Max was an awesome dog, a 15lb typical Yorkie who thought he was a Rottweiler.  He'd chased a herd of deer out of our yard, was a Might Chipmunk Killer, and just the sweetest thing.  He was my first dog, and I couldn't have asked for a better introduction into the World of Dogs.

A few months went by and I was in serious dog withdraw.  In March I Shanghaied Matt to a local Tractor Supply Store where I knew they were having an adoption event.  We needed chicken feed and it seemed like a good idea.  This is who we met there:

Caution!  Will Double in Size in 2-4 Months

They had Tillman listed as a Dachshund mix, and you can see why with the long body and markings.  We looked at a few puppies (Matt wanted to get a puppy and I wanted to get a rescue) and decided that we were interested in this little guy.  I filled out an application, we went through all the hoops, had a meet-and-greet with Tillman, and decided to take him home.

Tillman was born in Greenville, SC, and was rescued by the group who specializes in getting dogs out of high-kill shelters in the south and bringing them north.  He was born November 2012....the same month we had Max put down.  When we rescued him, he was 4 months old.  We did puppy basic training at a dog training facility right near our house, and that went.....ok.  Hounds are notoriously stubborn.

In June, Tillman was playing with a larger dog at a kennel while I had an outpatient procedure, and the little tyke broke his front left leg.  It was bad, he needed surgery which cost us $800,000 and Matthew's right kidney.  Kidding.  He has 5 pins in his leg now, and had to wear a cast for 4 weeks.

If you experience an erection lasting longer than 4 hours, seek medical attention.

It.  Didn't.  Slow.  Him.  Down.  One.  Bit.

In fact, if you didn't get out of the way fast enough he would stomp on your toes with his stump.  Hard.  It was a difficult 4 weeks.  He was used to sleeping with us by then, but we couldn't have him up on the bed for fear of him falling or trying to jump off, so we put an exercise pen (X Pen) in the bedroom with his bed in it.  We tried to put him downstairs but he would whine and bark, so we had to put it in the bedroom.  Then he was fine.  

I'm wearing my red today.

Then, we had to cart the damn thing downstairs into the kitchen so we could set it up there while we were at work.  I had to come home at lunch to let him outside and take the cone off his head so he could eat and drink.

Every damn day.  

Tillman is a hoarder.  We will give him something bigger than he can crunch and swallow, and he will wander around the house for 20 minutes looking for a place to bury it.  Most often it is in the laundry.  

Is it secret?  Is it safe?

We have decided to just call him a "hound mix" because we have no idea what all is in there.  Maybe beagle, dachshund, coonhound, lab, and/or bassett.  He has a black spotted tongue, extra floppy mouth skin, webbed paws, and loves the water.

Hey guys!  Look what I did with the ball!

He is a ham, he makes us laugh.  He likes to play ball, loves to look out the window at what is going on, and he is a snuggler.  Loves to be on your lap or beside you.  He cuddles with me almost every night, all night.  I don't mind this.  Maybe it is in my DNA, as humans have been living and sleeping with dogs for millenia.

This really does NOT look comfortable...for either of them, really.

After he healed up from his broken leg, we took him to an additional 8-week training.  He did ok, more of the stubborn coming out.  We manage.  He's not good on a leash because he likes to pull, but we got a pinch collar for him and that works well.  He holds his leg at a funny angle, and when he first gets up from sleeping he has a limp.  We're giving him a supplement from Only Natural Pets for that and his immune system.  It seems to be helping, but he'll have these problems for the rest of his life.

OMG, SNOW!

But it does not slow him down one bit.  I've been taking him running once a week, and he's fine with that.  He's a high energy dog and that's forcing us to be more high energy, too.

In fact, it's snowing again today, and I will be forced to take the little tyke out for a run/romp in the snow!

I LOVE SNOW!!!!!

Max's Bath

I'm ignoring you. If I ignore you there will be no bath.....

Oh, crap, that didn't work out like I'd planned....

Rolling, rolling, rubbing!!!

Get those ears dry! Curly fur! Dry the curly fur!

And it ends perfectly with a brushy!!!!

Yorkie Pics of the Week

Max in the lawn....

Gorgeous Weekend

It was a lovely, glorious weekend complete with junk, banks, trash-to-treasure, planting, wine and new people, and no homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream. Maybe next weekend we'll have time.

Saturday morning, we got up early and took a load of metal scrap to our local bulk recycling center. I always enjoy going there, it is a working farm but the barn closest to the house is only for weighing and storing bulk aluminum, copper, brass, etc. I would love to go scavenger hunting through there! But, no. We left with over $200, which is fantastic. Prices are up right now. Lovely.

From there, we went to our new bank and opened up another checking account. We had the most wonderful conversation with the lady who handles that, we must have sat there talking for over 2 hours! She told us about her time in the Air Force, she was in Germany when Libya was getting boisterous and we retaliated. BOY did we retaliate!

From there, we went to close our accounts at our old bank. They were feeing us to death. Goodbye!

Then, lunch. We headed home from there with full intentions of going over to help Matt’s mom, who is cleaning out his recently deceased uncle’s rental house. I believe the rent is paid up for another month or so, but I know they want to clean it out and be done with it. Well, we decided to wait and go over on Sunday instead.

Mid-afternoon, I went to a local greenhouse to get some replacement plants for things that didn’t make it. It turns out they were having quite a sale! Peppers and tomatoes were all $.50, and a lot of flowers were on sale, too. I came home with three peppers, a dill, four tomatillos, and a Forget-Me-Not for Matt. I also eyed up the yuccas. They were blooming, and I noticed one pot had two plants in it. That’s a little trick I do, look for pots that have more than one plant.
I came home and found that Matt had delivered my squash mound dirt for me.

Around 5, we left for another Meetup event, this time with the Chambersburg Meetup Group. Hauser Estate Winery has an event every week this summer complete with a band and catered dinner. Admission is free, you have to pay for your food and drink, though. It turned out that only one other meetup person was coming. Ah, well.

I’ve been told that Hauser is very ‘young’ for a winery. They are new, yes, but they specialize in hard ciders and apple or peach wines. They are built in the middle of Apple Country here in PA, what else could they do? They put their building on a hill, it is a FANTASTIC view! Really incredible. They have outdoor tables with umbrellas and they sell sandwiches and things in a cooler. So, you could go up, get a bottle of your favorite wine or cider, a sandwich, and sit out on the patio or deck and take it all in.

Can you tell I’m really tickled with this place? I’m already trying to decide when Matt and I can get up there next for a nice, leisurely lunch.

Anyway, Matt and I had a mini-wine tasting. He really liked the Merlot, and I wound up really liking the Apple Wine, which is fantastic ice-cold. Their ciders were good, too, fairly light and beer-y. The band was a bit loud, but our meetup guy was nice, talkative, and above all – normal. I always worry about meeting people for the first time, especially if no one else you know is there, that they’re all going to be wackos. We wound up staying until almost 9.

Sunday, Matt went over to his uncle’s house with his parents to help work. I was planning on going, too, but I realized how much I had to do at home. So, I set off the dishwasher, raked out the squash mounds to get the weeds, rocks, and sticks out, then planted the squash. I also planted the 4 tomatillos I’d gotten, and I wound up going back over and getting a yucca, a Box Car Willie tomato to fill in a spot where one of my tomatoes died, and a watermelon. Not a vine, the melon itself. You know, to eat.

Matt called about mid-morning to tell me that the refrigerator, stove, and dishwasher at his uncles were ours if we wanted them for a combined price of about what we got for our scrap metal the previous day. I did the measurements and yeah, it seemed it would work out. So, looks like we’ll be storing some appliances in the garage for a bit. It’s a good deal, they’re fairly new. The stove is a glass (ceramic?) top and will go in the kitchen, while the current electric stove was destined for the garage, anyway, as that is where we’re planning on doing the canning. We also wound up with about a dozen and a half quart canning jars, with a pint and a half-gallon jar thrown in, and a mix of other things. Anything that doesn’t go to family will be going to a yard sale sometime this summer.

General clean-up commenced along with pea picking. We burned our paper trash, Max scared the bejezus out of a baby bird, and we watched the fireflies while having a drinky on the back porch.

Matthew's Commentary

"You know, I never realized that from this angle my hairline looks like I have horns. Or, if someone were feeling really artistic, they could make my face look like Hello Kitty with the ears and all."

(Me, I was giggling about the dog. Notice the teeth).

General Things

I never know what to name these 'update' posts. 'Update' just seem so boring. 'Exciting Happenings' just isn't true, usually.

So, we leave for Virginia this afternoon. I'll be non communicato until at least Sunday.

In regards to dad and mom and the hospital and the conversation over lunch, nothing new. Dad has an appointment with the EarNoseThroat(knees and toes, knees and toes) doctor today, here's hoping all's well. Also, I found a Yahoo Group for only children of aging parents. I joined. At least I can go there and vent even if I can't do anything about the situation.

Max is having more trouble with his vision. He's taken to walking around the bed at night after we turn off the light, even if he had been laying down and asleep when the light gets turned off. It is very strange. We're not sure why he's doing it. I think that his vision is bad enough that he is totally blind when he goes from light to dark that suddenly, and I think his eyes (well, eye) adjusts more slowly. But, if you can't see anything why wander around? He hasn't fallen, and I don't think he will, but we really can't figure it out. Also, his arthritis is starting to be more apparent. I'm making a vet appointment for him next week.

I have been soooo incredibly stressed lately, and I can't seem to find a way to dissapate it. It just keeps building, layer upon layer. Something explodes at work....then dad goes in the hospital....then someone else has a work explosion....then possible layoffs at Matt's job....then something else, something else, something else. Even good things, like jewelry commisions and gardening just add to the pressure. And it's a full moon so I'm not sleeping as well. I feel like someone shoved grapefruits in my shoulder muscles, everything is so tense.

Spot the Yorkie

Ambassador of Dogs *UPDATE*

*UPDATE* So, the first thing my mom did when we dropped Max off is....almost drop him down the stairs. Not a good sign. Really, he tried to jump out of her arms, tumbled a bit on the floor, then ran down the stairs, but still. He did pull something in his hip.

Otherwise, the day was pretty uneventful. We dropped him off around 10am and picked him up around 7pm. They said he slept most of the day, took over my mom's chair, went outside and did his thing. Etc. Not much going on there. We're still deciding about trying an overnight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As I mentioned before, Max is going to be doing some trial stays with my parents to see how they get along before Matt and I decide for sure to leave him with them when we go out of town. The first trial will be a morning-to-night tomorrow.



Pray for us. :)



In preparation for the visit, I've made a list of things Max will need (food/water bowl, food, leash, blankie, baby gates, etc). I've also printed up a colorful sheet with table foods that Max can and (more importantly) cannot have.



One thing I'm most interested in is Max's roll as Doggie Ambassador, to which he was appointed as a puppy. Max has a really great ability to convert non-dog people and some very anti-dog people to pro-dog people or at the very least, to dog-friendly people. My parents are included in this. Max has had several sucessful Goodwill Tours at my parents house.



It is a big deal. My mother has gone from totally anti-small dog to very small dog-friendly. She has even talked about getting a Scottie....after my dad dies.



He's the real hold-out here. He's convinced they CANNOT have animals in the house because of the flea problem, despite me explaing about Frontline and how it actually works. He's not giving in. He adores Max, though, and I'm hoping that Max may be able to break through that last barrier.



If so, we may soon have to fine yet another keeper for Max when we go away.

The Other Woman

There is a new woman in Max's life.
Matt's parents got a Pomeranian puppy.

Her name is.....(wait for it).....

Foxy Lady. Yes, seriously.

Max is not taking this well, unfortunately. He was harassed by a neighbor's Pom when he was a puppy, and he hasn't forgotten it:
Neither have I, really. I don't like Pomeranians.

Matt is playing both sides of the fence, though. In the picture below it almost looks like he's receiving sexual favors from her. Ahem.
So, now we're stuck with trying to find a place for Max to stay when Matt and I travel. We're going to do a few trial runs with....my parents. God help us all.

Max's Trip to the Beach, part 3

We walked down the beach a whole bunch. My people wanted to look for pretty rocks and sea glass. I got bored with that and started sniffing around this thing when we got close to it:
There was something really interesting in here!

I got really excited and spent almost half an hour worrying about the thing, trying to find it and get at it:
And then I ran this way trying to figure out a way to get at the thing:
And then I had an idea! Opposable thumbs! I needed someone with opposable thumbs! I know people with opposable thumbs!!
So I went and yapped at them, and got one of them to follow me:
Here's dad with his butt sticking out, trying to find what I'm looking for:
And here's BOTH of us with our butts sticking out trying to find what I'm sniffing for! Oh Boy! I LOVE SNIFFING THINGS!!
And you know what it was? It was one of those plastic things you can fling into the water for your dog to chase! It was orange, you can see a bit of it here! Unfortunately it was really stuck and opposable thumbs wouldn't help.
I had a long day, but it was great! I met a girl dog who was visiting the beach for the first time, too! She was a rotty, and she could walk right over me! Oh Boy!

I slept almost the whole way home....

Max's Trip to the Beach, part 2

Then, mom wanted me to come with her. Away from the water! Why do we have to go away from the water!?! I like the water!I followed dad a bit helping look for rocks, shells, and beach glass.There were a LOT of dead horseshoe crabs all over! I didn't like how they smelled, so I stayed away from them. My people were really surprised at this!

Can you see the side-crawling crab? I couldn't! It is really well camouflaged.
We found a crab shell that looked like a cheetah!
And I walked out on some wave breaks. Mom kept my leash on this whole time, can you believe it!

I've still got my leash on! Why won't she take the leash off? Was she scared I was going to jump in? I wouldn't think of jumping in! Hmm....I wonder what would happen if I jumped in?AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!


Look what we found!!! Mum called it serendipity, but I thought it was just a pail.
Wait until part 3, where I find something stuck in a wave break!!!! OH BOY!!!!

Max's Trip to the Beach, part 1

(as dictated by Max, with notes * from his mum)

For the past couple weeks, my people have been talking about a beach. This is a word I’ve never heard before, so I didn’t know what a beach was, but they kept saying I was going there, and it would be in the car with my collar. Oh Boy! A Ride! In the CAR! With my Collar!! I LOVE MY COLLAR! It means I’m going on a Ride!! IN THE CAR!!!

So, early Sunday morning we got up and it was cold! So I got to wear my sweater, too! I LOVE MY SWEATER!!! When we got in the car I got to ride on mom’s lap almost the whole way there!! Mom took a picture of me from her point of view.

This was the longest car ride I’ve ever been on! I usually only go for rides in the car when we go on hunting trips as a Pack to kill a pizza and bring it back to the den.

I think she got tired of me on her lap, though, and she made me go lay down in the back seat after we crossed a big, long bridge.

(*this is the Bay Bridge at Annapolis. It is very high and very long, and it is really the only way over to the shore, unless you want to drive about 4hrs out of the way. I know some people who WILL NOT drive over the Bay Bridge)

I got my first sniff of salt water. It smelled weird!

After mum pushed me into the back seat, I tried to take a nap but I couldn’t, so I just stared at her for the next hour trying to will her to let me back on her lap. She eventually did.

After we stopped for some food (I LOVE FOOD!), we drove through a place with a lot of water and water plants and birds, but no buildings. And we parked right on a sand dune!

They put my leash on me. I don’t like my leash, but I learned to tolerate it and I walk on a leash really well. I wanted to sniff and wee on everything!! I LOVE WEEING ON EVERYTHING!! But they kept pulling me along towards something over the small hill.

It was a really big bath tub without soap!! It moved! And it smelled weird! And the ground was all sand!!!!

It came at me!!!And it got me!!! And my paws got wet. And then it went away….and came back again!!!
And the foam moved and twirled and ran away, so I chased it. I LOVE CHASING THINGS!! And then it got me again!!!!!

And there were other things, but I’m going to take a nap now. Blogging is hard!