Emmi

Next came Emmi. We brought Emmi to our home as a foster dog through Ratbone Rescues. I was expecting a larger dog than Zena because she looked huge in the pictures. I was shocked when we picked her up in Virginia - she was 8 lbs! I instantly fell in love. She was so funny looking. Her back legs are longer than her front legs (I call her my little dragster), her ears are huge for her head, her tail has a kink in it and she sounds like she's talking when she growls. It turns out that she had grade 3/4 patellas in her back legs and she would need surgery on them. They wanted me to send her to the midwest because the surgeries were cheaper out there but I just couldn't let go. I was convinced that no one else would love her like I did. She had so many behavioral problems I really thought she'd be returned and how could I just let her go like that? So hubby and I discussed it and she became a member of the family.

We got her the patella surgery that we thought would fix a lot of behavioral issues - and it didn't. She still has a tendancy to go in the house (hence when we moved we got hardwoods because she will only go on carpet) and as she's gotten older she's gotten crankier. She is now 6 and has arthritis in all 4 legs. Her back hock joint is curved from arthritis so it almost sits on the floor and her front left joint is very swollen. She's on pain meds and prozac for anxiety. She's good with kids when she's awake - she LOVES people - excpet if you bother her while she's sleeping she turns into Cujo. She's really bad if she's sleeping and so I usually lock her in her crate if other kids are coming over. The vet says that while she is in pain, it can be managed with the meds and she's got YEARS left on her. Sigh. While I love this dog so much - she can be difficult. She now has to be carried up and down stairs and she has to be carried off the porch to go potty. Oh yeah, and I'm also convinced that she's not totally all there (brainwise I mean). Last week she barked to get off the bed so I put her on the floor. She followed me into the den and barked at me so I got up and followed her. She went back to the bed and barked to get back up. She found a new spot, laid down and was totally happy. Here's our little wacky Emmi (she's about 10 lbs now):

This is a picture of her shortly after we got her about 6 years ago (it'll be 6 years in December!). She has always sat like this and still does. She sits on the side of her bum, never on it like Zena does!

This is her after her surgery. She had double patella surgery. She was such a trooper! She walked around on her casts just fine (vet said that was ok after a few days) and this is how she sat while they were on.

Partners in crime. Bryce used to love to unroll the toilet paper and Emmi is obsessed with shredding any kind of paper. I caught the 2 of them doing this and made them pose for it as a reminder - you can see how happy Emmi is to do a sit stay!

And this is where the naughty kids go....

Just kidding! Bryce used to love going into the dog's crates when he was younger. He thought it was so much fun! Now he enjoys just taking them apart! We only crate Emmi now because of her issues. Zena has the run of the house now that we're not in a townhouse. I was afraid she would bark constantly in the townhouse because of all of the noise and I didn't want to disturb the neighbors. Now they can't hear her if she does (well, I hope not!) because we're in a detached house.