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(2000 - ?) |
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Additional Pix of Aries and Family |
Additional Pix of Aries and Zeus |
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For over a decade, my house had always been filled with dogs - my pack of pooches! Unfortunately after Randy passed away, my little family dwindled down as cancer, stroke, seizures, and disease took my babies from me. When it was down to just Gabby and Joxer, I relegated all the crates to the basement never thinking I'd just them again. (I have 5 dogs crates since cockers are notorious for being chewers, and very
easily can be tempted into other trouble. When the whole pack was alive, they ALL went into their crates while I was at work. I learned that lesson when Apple ate a hole in the side of my couch to get to her ball!!) But, as 2000 ended, I had to quickly retrieve and clean the crates - puppies
were on the way! |
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| Just before December, 2000, I learned that Gabby and Joxer's mom and dad (Ginger and George) were going to be parents for the fifth time! Being the great-great-great
granddad to the coming puppies, I got offered a pup. When I went to look at the litter (when they were 3 weeks old), I mentioned that two puppies would be really nice, and was surprised to find the breeder overjoyed to have found "the" new home for the only remaining puppy. I had to make my 2 choices out of three rust colored boys - which eventually led to my "Name-the-Puppies" contest. |
| Since I didn't know the exact birth date for the puppies, I had figured that instead of "Christmas Puppies", I would just consider these two new boyz to be an
anniversary present from Randy (1/15/85). Sappy, I know; but all the dogs will always belong to me and Randy :) Boy was I surprised then, when the breeder called just before the New Year, begging me to come and claim the hungry poop-machines that were terrorizing their house. So instead of "puppy-proofing" the house during the holiday weekend, I spent the time bonding with my new boyz - Aries and Zeus! |
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Aries is my little lover-boy pup. Kind of quiet and shy (unless his brother Zeus is close enough to bite. LOL), Aries is the smaller of the two, and has a defined white stripe running down the center of his forehead. He also has a white "collar" on his neck. Like his brother, he wears white "socks" too. |
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| After a few years had gone by, I found that my initial assessment of the
temperament of Aries and his brother, Zeus, was backwards. As the two grew up, Zeus got sweeter and quieter, while Aries got meaner and began my problem child. Not that he was ever a "bad dog", but I did have to keep an eye on him for getting too snarly and snappy at his siblings and visitors. After a while, I realized that Aries had some sort of neurological problems (his anger and a strange "tic" where his back leg would kick for no apparent reason); but a little love goes a long way, and he gets along with everyone fairly well. |
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| In May 2005, Aries suffered a seizure similar to those had by his late aunt LBB. When L.B.B. had seizures, I didn't have the internet. (Gosh, that was a loooong time ago) But now I have broadband, and needless to say, I've done a ton of researching on dog seizures. Here's some of what I learned: |
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Parts of a Seizure
- The aura phase is characterized by behavioral changes such as whining, restlessness, hiding or apprehension.
- The ictus phase is the seizure stage and is characterized by all the signs associated with the seizure: unconsciousness, muscle activity, salivation, etc.
- The postictal phase occurs immediately after the seizure and may last a few minutes to several days. It may be characterized by confusion, wandering, blindness or unresponsiveness.
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From my reading, I believe that Aries had a Tonic Clonic Grand Mal seizure. During the Grand Mal seizure, the tonic phase is when the dog falls to the ground, rigidly stretches his legs out and loses consciousness. The clonic stage exhibits paddling of limbs, pupils in both eyes dilate and unresponsive, and the dog loses control of bodily functions and begins to drool, urinate or defecate on itself.
Aries Seizure Timeline
Tues 4/11 - Wed 4/12
- 12:00 am midnight
- I heard Aries banging under my desk like he was scratching; but I knew that something didn't sound right. I could see that he was stiff and rigid and falling to the floor. Aries began to shake uncontrollably while his eyes dilated and he defecated.
- 12:02
- Cradling his head and trying to comfort him with soothing words, I finally sense the seizing slow down and stop. As I tried to reach up onto my desk to find the phone (it was either a call to the ER vet or Jim), I glanced at the time, but still felt that something was still wrong. Aries had gone unbelievably rigid once again. For nearly 3 minutes, he was in this state. I was so worried that he had just passed away in my arms, that I put my ear to his chest to hear if his heart was still beating. It took me several seconds, through my sobbing, to finally hear his heartbeat. His eyes were huge and totally unresponsive as I called to him and begged him to come back to me.
- 12:05
- I glanced at my watch, as Aries eyes re-focused on me for a second before another round of shaking and seizing hit him.
- 12:07
- Finally, his muscles began to untense and unclench, and Aries slowly seemed to awaken to his surroundings. With all the other dogs clustered around watching, I knew Aries was better when he gave a low growl to his "bubba" Zeus for being too close to "his" area.
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Spending the next two hours, crying and watching Aries for further signs, I began my research. Now I also believe that the "tic" that Aries has in his back leg (You know how a dog's leg with "scratch" when you get just that right place? That's what his back left leg will do uncontrollably for a few seconds frequently throughout the day.) is actually a sign of partial seizures.
Partial Seizures are odd things where the seizure activities such as the leg paddling, muscle spasms, neck and head bending or the main part of the body and facial muscle spasms only occur in one part of the body. These types of seizures can worsen until they appear to be Grand Mal or Mild Tonic-clonic but the difference is how the seizure began. Both Tonic-clonic types seem to be overall body from the start but the partials may just start at the face or one hip.
Aries has always had this "tic" and has been a very temperamental dog. We also noticed that after being given sweets, his attitude is much better. Since low blood sugar is a possible cause of dog seizures, I am going to get Aries tested for this. Also, I plan to have him x-rayed since tumors run in this line of spaniels and that's another possible seizure cause. It's been over 48 hrs. now, and Aries has been fine since, although my nerves are still quite frazzled.
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Peeking at me
through the backdoor |
Back to normal
the day after the seizure |
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As many of you know, Jim and I try to
take the doggies up to his house occasionally so they can run around
in a big backyard (or play in the pool!). In October of 2006, on a
fine Fall day after a rainy week, we took Gabby and Aries out for a
ride and some playtime. When Jim cranked up his mower, I had Gabby
and Aries stay on the patio to keep out of the way. Since Jim was
starting to mow the front yard first, I decided to let the kidz back
out to play with me until Jim brought the mower around to the
backyard. But when I went to let them off the patio, Aries was
missing!
Within the five minutes time that they had been on the patio, Aries
had pushed open the screen door and run away. I called for Jim and
we immediately began calling for Aries and looking around the
neighborhood for him. A nearby neighbor said she had seen Aries
going up the road just a few minutes prior. She hadn't known whose
dog it was, or she said she would have immediately come and told us.
We spent the next 4 hrs. walking and driving the neighborhood,
calling and searching for my little lost boy.
But we had no luck. Well into the dark of the night, we continued
searching for Aries without any sign of him. When it was too dark to
look anymore (well, it was too dark for us to be shouting into the
night and shining flashlights into the neighborhood yards. LOL), we
left Jim's garage door open, along with the patio door. I also
propped open my front screen door, in the hopes that Aries would
return to one of our houses. (Stranger things have happened; plus I
watched ALL those Lassie movies as a kid. If Lassie could have found
her way home over hundreds of miles, I was sure hoping that Aries
could find his way home since Jim's house is just barely 4 miles
away from my house.) Unfortunately, over the many times that I
checked outside during the night, and with Jim searching his
neighborhood again, in the morning there was still no sign of my
pup. Needless to say, I had quiet an un-restful night and spent a
lot of time crying until morning.
First thing in the morning, I started working on a flyer to post
around, and started to make phone calls to the Humane Society and to
the county dog warden to cover all the bases, in case someone found
him. My first call to the Humane Society brought me great hope. They
had a call about a cocker that sounded like Aries, so they gave me
the contact number. Anxious, but still scared to hope much, I called
and described my Aries to the lady who was holding a cocker her
friend had picked up the evening before. My heart took a giant leap
of joy, as my description of Aries seemed to match this rescued dog,
and we made plans to meet at Jim's house just before noon. A quick
call to DO, and we made plans to get over to Jim's and hopefully
bring home my boy.
It was the longest wait, but both the kind ladies (the one who found
him, and the one that cared for him overnight) arrived on time - and
with Aries!! One of the ladies had found Aries, not in the direction
we had been looking; but nearly 3 miles away in N. Canton. He had
been sitting out in the street in the middle of a busy intersection.
An older couple had been trying to get him out of the road but
without any luck. They tell me that Aries was scratching at the car,
like he wanted to get in but was too scared to actually do it. This
lady though had several dogs of her own and had a lead in her car.
She was able to get him and put him in her vehicle. Her friend, with
a dog crate, was better situated to keep him overnight, and she fed
him and cared for him during the night.
Part of me feels bad for not getting more personal information on
these two wonderful women so that I could send them thank you cards;
but I had Aries in my arms again and wasn't about to let him loose
again. I'm so very grateful for the kindness of these ladies and the
care they took of my Aries. I was smart enough to think ahead and
did take a few pictures on my camera to show them of Aries along
with his siblings, plus the web address of this site so that could
read up about all my kids. (So if you're reading this entry ladies,
me, my friends and my kidz want to send you a big
THANK YOU!) |
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| 2009 |
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