A dachshund's odyssey

Last year a dear friend gave me this book. I'd thumbed through it several times but never took the time to sit down and read it. So on this quiet Sunday, I did just that.

Spoiler Alert * It turns out Lump had once belonged to the photographer, David Douglas Duncan, who was a good friend of Pablo Picasso. On one of his many trips to Picasso's home, he brought Lump along. Lump surveyed the home and decided that it would now be his home too. The rest of the book is comprised of domestic photos of Picasso and his beloved dog.

hmmm Does this sound like anyone else we know?

With that in mind here is the latest video of another lovable dachshund. PS It was just one month ago today she had her surgery.

The highs and lows of the week

This week has simply been a roller coaster of emotions. It started out on a high note with Bianka making some significant progress toward her recovery by standing and walking a little more with each passing day.

Then all of that progress came to a screeching halt on Tuesday, when the Little Dog took a tumble down a flight of stairs. Although she showed no immediate signs of significant injury, the next couple of days were spent in a perpetual state of worry and trying to assess if her behavior was normal. But at this point how does one gauge normal? After two or three days of quiet cage and bed rest, Bianka started becoming a little more active again.

Today being the beautiful day that it is, I decided Little Dog deserved some time in the great outdoors, carefully observed of course. She was outside less than two minutes before she started her search. I knew exactly what she was up to.

Yes I think things are getting back to normal around here.

You know, I'm always amazed at how much I can out-nerd myself.

Here is the latest in Bianka's road to recovery.

One step closer (pun intended)

It isn't very pretty and we still have a long way to go. :-D

Physical Therapy

I now find myself anxiously waiting to see when not if Bianka will take her very first "post-surgery" steps. One week ago I wasn't sure if she'd ever walk again, so this is incredibly exciting. I'm really amazed at how fast I'm seeing new signs of the Little Dog's recovery. She gets a little stronger each and every day. I know this because she and I do a little bit of physical therapy each night. Here you see us doing B's exercises. (If you managed to sit through the first two minutes, there's a tiny surprise at the end that I don't think either of us were expecting.)

By the way, I want to send out a big thank you to those of you that been kind enough to watch this progress with me and have cheered the little dog along. We're getting really close.

A tiny milestone.

To most this video would be dull as dirt, but but being able to scratch her ear with her own foot is a big step toward recovery. I never thought I'd be this excited over such little things.

Excited Dog