Stormy

We can't believe it's already been 2 years either...it seems like just yesterday when we first met our Stormy girl.  She was so nervous and anxious at first, but she has really settled in, and I believe she now knows she's home.  When she first arrived, her ears were practically pinned to the back of her head most of the time, so I can't tell you how much I love seeing those same ears looking all relaxed and happy now.  One of my favorite moments with Stormy was earlier this year when our local Animal Control Officer came to inspect our house (we have 4 dogs, so we have a kennel license, and the house needs to be inspected annually).  She took one look at Stormy and commented on what a difference she could see in her.

The one thing that has not changed is that she is still an absolute love.  Now that she's settled in, she's no longer being crated, and is always the first dog at the door to greet us when we get home...she just loves to wash our faces with kisses!  She may be the oldest member of the group, but she's the only one who will play regularly with our youngest, a 3 year old white boxer named Mea.  When the two girls get to rough housing, we usually just get everyone else out of their way and enjoy the laughter they create for us. A couple of the attached pictures show the two girls together during a few "downtimes"...we'd never be able to get a picture of them playing...it would be nothing more than a blur! :-)

The one problem we have with Stormy is that we recently learned that she had a tumor on her bladder.  Thanks to the regular Senior Care program that we have her on at our Vet's office, we were able to find it early on.  We did have as much of it removed as possible, and she's recovered nicely from surgery, but it was diagnosed as Transitional Cell Carcinoma, so we're now appreciating each and every day we have with this girl even more than ever before (if that's even possible).  She's taking Piroxicam, Benedryl and Tagamet and a number of homeopathic remedies (mushrooms, turmeric and broccoli), so we're hoping that we'll be submitting updates on our beautiful girl for many years to come!

Stormy is an absolute love.  She's one of the first to greet us whenever we come home and is always ready to shower us with kisses.  We were worried at first that she wouldn't be able to adjust to living here because of our work schedules and her separation anxiety issue but seeing how happy and settled she is now means the world to us. 

While she has adjusted to our need to leave the house, she's not really comfortable being away from us when we are at home.  We host a monthly family gathering and typically gate Mea, Gus and Chewie in another room while everyone is eating.  We learned early on that wouldn't be possible with Stormy, though, since she leaps the gate in a single bound!  We've also learned that it's OK to let her stay with us, though, because unlike the others who prefer to help our guests eat, Stormy just curls up on the chaise and slee

Stormy is a beautiful 8 year old girl who LOVES being around humans. She is a snuggle bug who lets you know how much she loves you by giving you all kinds of boxer kisses. She's an easy girl to love - she settled in right away and has been spending most of her days on either her favorite dog bed or next to one of us on the couch or chaise. In the 2 weeks that we've had her, she hasn't had a single accident. She's pretty much adjusted to the walking schedule we already had in place for our other dogs - but will also come right up to one of us and whine to let us know if she needs to go out before the next scheduled walk.

     Stormy has been great with our other dogs - although she has been known to give a few deep warning growls when she wants to let Mea (our resident "wild child" puppy) know that it's time for her to slow things down a bit.

     So far, she's also been good with our resident kitty - but we're still watching her around him because she is FIXATED on him whenever he surfaces.  The only way we can typically get her attention away from him is to bribe her with treats. Even with treats, once they're gone, she's usually back on track trying to find the kitty...and will whine when we don't let her get close enough. We think she's just really curious about him - but are watching to make sure both remain safe.

     She's a nice, calm girl most of the time, but we've learned that in spite of her age, she's quite the little gymnast. We have been using a tall baby gate to block the back half of the house off from her, so the kitty can feel free to roam the bedrooms. As long as one of us is with her, she won't leap over that gate...but if she's not supervised and knows that one of us is in the back of the house, there's just no stopping her! The funny thing is that at 58 lbs, she makes less noise going over that gate than our 11 lb. cat.

     We're so glad we opened our home to Stormy...she's a sweet, gentle girl with a lot of love to give.  Our vet has found a small, mast cell tumor on her left side, so she'll be having surgery on Thursday (9/8) to have it removed.