Well, got home from work this evening & saw that Dougie, our tri-color Collie isn't hobbling aroond nearly as badly as he had been for the past few days. (See post above this one for details as to what the heck is going on.)

Here's a shot of Dougie, a.k.a. Big, a.k.a. Bandit Boy, a.k.a. Large, a.k.a. Goof Ball:

Dougie

In the shot above, he's engrossed in one of his favorite activities...drinking water. Actually, it's letting water splash on the ground because he seems to get very little liquid in his mouth when he tries to drink. You should see the ever-lovin' mess he leaves when he gets done with the water bowl indoors!

About a week or so ago, one of Declan's rear legs started acting up...for a second time. Seems like a week prior to that, he had gone limp on the same leg . We never determined what the issue was but we did take him to the vet. Diagnosis? Well, x-ray, exam and visual inspection by a DVM all yielded the same answer...don't know what the hell was wrong with him. Of course we had to pay some big bucks just to determine that there was nothing discernably wrong with him. But as responsible pet owners we did the right thing. It's our duty to make sure all our dogs are physically O.K. And that brings us to Dougie.

 About four weeks ago Dougie (or Big as we sometimes affectionately refer to him) sustained an injury to one of his front paws. After hobbling around for a few days he eventually was able to motor once again. But now that Declan's up & about again, Dougie's same front paw is bothering him. To be quite honest, we may not go the vet route with him. The bank account needs a little resusitation before we venture into writing another check that'll put a significant dent into the national debt.

We're not sure why the heck our two boys (Declan & Dougie) have been injured while the three girls (Lyric, Lily & Maggie) are fit as all heck.

We have one of those pop-up canopy devices you sometimes see at dog shows. It's blue & is really easy to set up & dismantle. Here's a picture of the item:

Canopy

We pack it in the van & when it's called for set it up at dog shows to provide some shade. Since we've been off the dog show circuit for a few days, I decided to set it up down toward the end of the Presto Dog Phunny Pharm property. As a matter of fact, the picture up above shows the canopy in the spot where we had it set up last sumer.

Anyway, the canopy was up for a week or so when I noticed it was bowed in one area. Seems it had rained & because the blue fabric wasn't pulled taught enough, water had pooled on one of the sides. Although I removed the offending rainwater its pooling effect had sort of stretched the fabric so it was now belied in the middle.

So, I looked around the gargae & came up with the idea of using a couple of bungee cords. I attached one end to the top of the canopy & the other to the bowed area. Hopefully when it rains the water will simply flow off the now slightly raised area & not pool any longer.

I've written about breakfast time here at the Presto Dog Phunny Pharm in the past. It's a time when you'd think these poor canine creatures are having their first meal in days. Barking, running around in circles and little expectant faces all greet us as delightful meals are prepared for our charges.

After gobbling their meals, the pack is then ready to be taken outside to do their business. Our dogs are Lyric, Lily, Declan & Maggie, all Shetland Sheepdogs and a tri-color Collie named Dougie. I usually take Maggie out first as she's the youngest & we feel she has the least self-control. But, she doesn't have "accidents" so it's really not important that she's escourted out first. After bringing in Maggie, I take out Lily & Declan while the Presto Dog First Lady takes out Lyric & Dougie. After they're done we're good for about three hours when they need to make the trips once again.

Since it's the weekend we'll be going out to play a few times, also. We're running a bit low on balls since Dougie's thing is to try to pop 'em as soon as we bring 'em home. As a matter of fact, about two weeks ago, we took one out of the van, threw it into the yard & he popped it in a record-breaking three minutes!

I'll try to snap a few pictures later on today so you can see the pack at play here at the Presto Dog Phunny Pharm.