On Tuesday, September 4th I took my boy (22 months old) to the vet's office for his neuter surgery. This is the first time we've been to this particular vet, but I was referred to him many times by family and friends. Dr. Hanson was very knowledgeable and reassuring, since I was really anxious about the operation. We also talked about my pup's panosteitis, which has returned and is affecting his other leg, though not severely. I left Savage there at about 10:00am and called at 12:00pm, at which point he was out of surgery and recovering.
When I finally got back to the clinic around 2:30 my puppy was awake and aware, so they released him and I loaded him into the truck for the ride home. I was advised that aftercare would be minimal, and I should limit his exercise for a week or so, and not let him go swimming. He was not given any pain medication or antibiotics. I will be able to remove the stitches myself after healing. Since I had not given him anything to eat after 8:00pm on Monday, I offered him a slice of ham on the 2 1/2 hour ride home, but he wasn't interested, which was very strange for my dog. That afternoon Savvy was still kind of "spacy" and tired, not at all interested in food, or the other dogs in the waiting room, or walking around outside. That night he threw up three times in the house, mostly bile and the grass he had been eating at any opportunity. I'm guessing that the vomiting may be related to the medication used for anesthesia, xylazine hydrocloride, administered along with the drug ketamine. But it really worried me, of course. He was also drinking quite a lot of water, and sleeping all the time.
On Wednesday I only let him out in the yard in the morning to pee, and he was more interested in getting back to sleep on the couch. That afternoon I walked him outside in the clearing beyond our house. He seemed almost normal, sniffing around and peeing on everything, but after only 5 minutes or so, he got tired and laid down in the grass to rest. I took him home and put him back to sleep. Randy and I offered him his regular meal (chicken backs and eggs), as well as irresistable treats like cooked hamburger and lunch meat (and even a spoonful of honey), but Savage refused them all. Last night I couldn't wait to call his vet with my concerns, but this morning he finally accepted a hot dog from Randy, and then when I offered him a chicken meal he ate the whole thing.
My beautiful guy is now resting on the couch (still!) and taking it easy. We've limited his exercise to short walks and he's been getting all sorts of hugs and affection from his family. Things are looking up. The first photo above was taken a day before Sava's surgery. Kind of a "farewell" to his testicles. LOL.
On a side note, I am now working on a new computer and new operating system, and it's been a bit difficult to get used to, which accounts for the big gap between website updates. I will hopefully be posting more often now that I'm getting used to this Mac stuff.

Look at my silly puppy! He's searching for a stick that sunk after I threw it for him to fetch.

Lately we've been dealing with a couple of health issues, which thankfully don't seem too serious, but they bear mentioning.
First of all, soon after Savvy's fall in the boat (see previous posts) he began holding his tail in a strange position, arched up and then tucked back under at the end. This concerned me, but I rationalized it by assuming he was still a bit scared. Then about a 4 days later, a spot in the middle of the tail began swelling up noticeably. Turns out that while he didn't actually break it, Savage's tail had just received a nasty bruise, and my vet said that the swelling would gradually subside, which it has been doing.
At the same vet appointment she addressed my main concern, which was limping affecting Savvy's right back leg. This had been going on for a few weeks, with one episode where he wouldn't put any weight on the leg at all. It was possible for me to gently feel along his leg, hip, and joints, with no pain or discomfort for him. However, as his vet palpated the long bone in his lower leg (shin area) his pain was obvious to both of us. Savvy was diagnosed with panosteitis and given a cycle of anti-inflammatory pills called Deramaxx.
Panosteitis is an inflammation of the long bones in growing pups, and doesn't normally occur in dogs as old as Savvy. The good news is that it will eventually go away on it's own. Because he is no longer limping and doesn't seem to be in any pain at all, I decided not to give him the pain pills. I generally don't like to put any medication into my doggie's body that is not absolutely necessary. I've been limiting his exercise a bit, and keeping his diet the same. Savage is now acting completely normal and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Randy, Savvy, and I recently took a trip down to southern Minnesota to pick up our new boat. Having finally got it on the water last weekend, we introduced Savage to it. He was a little wary of it, since the only boats he's been on so far have been 14' or 16', while the new one is 26' long. He explored the cabin, and seemed frustrated that moving around down below is a little difficult for a great dane. Most of his time was spent standing on the raised motor box, gazing out at the lake. At one point he put his feet up on the side of the boat to look over the gunnels and his front paws slipped off. Randy had to grab him by the collar and pull him back to the center of the boat, and poor boy fell onto the edge of the motor box. A little scary for puppy, but no harm appears to be done.
Our new boat is designed to be a cabin cruiser, but of course we will turn it into a fishing boat for Lake Superior. Because we spend most of our big lake fishing near Isle Royale, Michigan, I don't anticipate taking Savvy on the boat very often. The laws governing Isle Royale prohibit bringing dogs within 3 miles of the island, due to the risk of parvovirus infecting the native wolf population. So my doggie's boating time may be limited to cruising around outside the harbor. In any case, he has loved being on the water since he was a puppy, so he'll have fun even if he can't join me on every fishing trip.
The month of July has been very hot for those of us used to northeastern Minnesota weather, and that means Sava and I haven't been as active lately. He gets his walks every other day, but most of his exercise is limited to playing with the other dogs near the lakeshore. My boy still doesn't really love to swim, but I've been making him do it just to cool off. If I paddle around the bay in a canoe he can't help but dive in to follow me, so he's in the lake almost every day. Now when I start to launch the canoe he wades right in and starts swimming, which makes me think he's getting more accepting of it. He no longer stands on the shore and cries.
I'm still searching for a satisfactory vet to do Savage's neuter. I continue to be paranoid and worried about possible complications of the surgery, and I confess that I may be procrastinating making an appointment. Meanwhile, Savvy continues to exhibit some annoying "male" behaviors, and I know I have to commit to getting him fixed as soon as possible. He's getting too much of an attitude for me to control with simple voice commands. But he's still just a big baby...

This is my 20-month-old dane watching over Randy's daughter's 3-month-old baby girl. This is Savvy's first real experience being around a baby, and while he generally ignores her, it's still very sweet to see them together. Little Eva seems very amused by him.

This is what happens when my boss goes on vacation: the bar goes straight to the dogs! Savvy has been playing pool since last October, though his strategy has changed, and his partners have gotten more furry...

Rep. John Lesch, DFL-St. Paul, has announced that he plans to introduce legislation next year that will ban five breeds in Minnesota. Under the proposed law, anyone owning, housing, training, or breeding Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Chow Chows, Akitas, or wolf hybrids (or any mixed breed with any of the above traits) would be committing a crime subject to fines and jail time.
Apparently, Rep. Lesch has bought into the notion that specific breeds are inherently vicious and banning them would drastically cut down on dog attacks on humans. "You never hear stories about roving packs of golden retrievers attacking children in our streets," Lesch has said, "But you do hear about the pit bulls." It is my understanding that Minnesota dog attacks have been on a decline in the past few years, but Lesch has chosen to focus on a couple high-profile cases just recently in St. Paul that happened to involve pit bulls.
Here's the main problem with this proposed law: Any dog can become dangerous when bred and/or trained to be aggressive. It's ridiculous to think that restricting ownership of five breeds will stop or even cut down on dog bites, because the former owners of individual dogs who were bred or trained to be aggressive will simply acquire another breed of dog and train it in the same way. If they choose golden retrievers instead of pit bulls, and those dogs become aggressive, which breed do you think breed-specific legislation (BSL) proponents will target next?
Another problem with any BSL is that a lot of people can't positively identify dog breeds, and "pit bull", for example, is used by citizens as well as police and lawmakers to include a wide range of different breeds. I seriously doubt that John Lesch could tell you the difference between an American pit bull and an American Staffordshire Terrier, or the difference between an Akita and a Siberian Husky, for that matter.
I believe our state representative is just buying into the propoganda, perhaps even thinking his actions are noble. But how many of his family and friends own dogs, ANY breed of dogs? My understanding is that Minnesota law prohibits cities from enacting their own breed bans, and this is good. As far as statewide BSL, this proposal has many, many opponents; responsible dog owners who refuse to be punished and lose their best friends because of the irresponsibility of a few. Just because you may be (like me) the proud owner of a goofy, loveable, and extremely gentle dog, don't kid yourself. Great Danes can, and do, bite, and these few incidences speak volumes more about the breed from a lawmaker's standpoint than the thousands of sweet and well-behaved Danes in homes all across the nation.
Please take a few minutes to contact Rep. John Lesch, and in your own words, urge him to reconsider his stand on dog breed bans. Ask him to instead consider better enforcement of dog laws already in effect, including leash laws. There are laws regarding "dangerous dogs", and enforcement of these could prevent dog bites more effectively than breed bans. When Lesch announced his proposal at the Capitol on Friday, with him was a 5-year-old St.Paul girl who had been attacked by a "pit bull" last month. As Lesch called for support for his breed ban, the fact that that individual dog had previously been declared "potentially dangerous" by city inspectors seemed to get lost in the shuffle.
Following are a few links regarding breed-specific legislation. Not surprisingly, pit bull organizations are leading this fight. The Real Pit Bull site explains BSL thoroughly and gives alternatives to breed bans, as well as a petition to stop John Lesch's proposed legislation.
As always, Trail Center's website has pages of information for dog owners, and Sarah's views on BSL (as a Rottweiler owner).
An important, and truly eye-opening, exercise is the Find The Pit Bull test from Pit Bulls On The Web. I encourage everyone to take this short test and then visit this site's BSL page. There are also quite a few great articles under "Related Links".
The dogs pictured in this post are friends and acquaintances of Savage, and with the exception of the Brittany Spaniel, all dogs that would be illegal to own under the new breed ban. In descending order, the puppies are Savage and Mason, Wally, Roger, Mason, Elvis, Jones, and Savage, Willy, and Mason again. And yes, we do love our rotties!

Whenever Savvy and I need to rent a motel room I always get one with two double beds so he has his own to sleep on. I particularly like Days Inns because many don't charge extra for pets, and there is no weight limit on dogs.

Savage's hospital visit went well, and the doctor gave him a prescription for 20mg prednisone in case he got into any more hornet or bee situations. Her directions to me were to give him a dose of Benadryl as soon as he got stung and then the prednisone if symptoms presented themselves. So now we are well prepared. Also at the vet's office, he received his rabies booster, and seems to be doing fine; no vaccine reactions at all. The whole visit cost only $69.66.
I talked to his vet about getting him neutered soon, and she printed me out an estimate. The procedure itself will cost only $125.15 (I believe this figure is based on his weight), but the heart monitor, IVs, drugs, etc. altogether raise the price to $381.06! Which is a LOT of money for me to be spending at this time.
But it has to be done. Even though my puppy is the sweetest, mellowest boy with an excellent temperament, I've noticed him getting a little more of an "attitude" with other male dogs. Lately he's not as likely to back down when another dog growls at him, and even though this is completely normal, I don't ever want to see him involved in a full-blown dog fight. As far as neutering to curb roaming tendencies, Savvy has never strayed and still stays very close to wherever I am, so that's not an issue at all. Another clue that he's maturing is that just a month or so ago he began actually lifting his leg to pee, instead of squatting, especially when other male dogs are near. My little (!?) puppy is becoming an adult!
It's strange to feel this way about a dog, as opposed to a child, I guess, but I almost don't want him to grow up because it forces me to face the fact that someday I will lose him. Hopefully that's many, many years in the future, but whenever that happens will be too soon. Of course, I'm also very proud of him; all the things he's learned in the last year and a half, how well he's now responding to training (especially how attentive he's becoming), what a truly "good dog" he's growing into. He's really turning out to be an amazing boy. And the really cool thing is that he and I still have so many new experiences to go through together. It gives us both so much to look forward to.