It was too hot to take the Doxies for a ride yesterday so we missed the Grand Opening event at the Newbury Park PetSmart.  But we managed to get over there to check out the dog mega store the next day.

The new PetSmart store well within walking distance and I can only imagine how often they’re going to get a new ball as a reward.

The store is very clean and outfitted with lots of oops stations.  I can never understand how dog owners let their dogs pee and poop in the store, but it does happen.  I guess they just get excited about all the toys, treats and other dogs running around marking their territory.

The store was surprisingly empty, but it’s a brand new shopping center and PetSmart hasn’t done much advertising to announce the opening.  There was a little dachshund puppy named Andie joyously and curiously inspecting the squeaky toys I was testing.  (Of course I picked the loudest toy!)   Andie approved of the selection so we bought a set of three.

Our Doxies Like the Newbury Park PetSmart and can’t wait to return.

June 20, 2008: Today is Take Your Dog to Work Day. But when you have three Dachshunds, which one do you take? Both Chloe and Odie have been to the office before and it proved quite embarrassing.

The first time Chloe when to work, she peed on the carpet on top where another Take Your Dog to Work Day dog previously peed. Apparently she’s housebroken but not office broken.

Then while I’m trying to work, she just had to sit in my lap which basically made it impossible to work. Eventually she settled down and slept at my feet until…

Someone poked their head in my cube and she let out one fierce bark. The sound of it was magnified 10x because she was under the desk so she must have sounded like a really big dog.

Odie was the same way. He would climb into my lap an try to sleep. He was worse than Chloe since his boney legs really start poking into you after a while. Too bad he doesn’t have a little more padding like Chloe.

The President of the Company I was working for at the time had several Dacshunds and just had to take Odie for a walk around company to show him off. I went to pick Odie up a little later in his office only to find that Odie left a nice little doggy sausage for me to cleanup.

So today is Take Your Dog to Work Day. It’s Molly’s turn. It should be interesting. Dachshunds are not office broken.

Today we’re taking a walking down to Krispy Kreme to Celebrate National Donut Day to get four free donuts; one for Chloe, Odie, Molly and of course a donut for me.

Not that I let them eat the whole donut, but my Dachshunds sure have a taste for the the warm glazed donuts just out of the oven.

The funny thing is that when the four of us go for a walk, Chloe, Odie and Molly go in different directions. But if you say “lets go get a donut,” they’re headed off intently to get their donut.

So today is Dachshund Donut Day, take a walk with your doxie down to your favorite Donut shop and celebrate it with him.

Spending Saturday night in a Thousand Oaks Animal Hospital is something everyone should avoid. Not that we had much choice, but what could we do? Our Vet closes shop on Saturday around 1 PM and it’s well past that into the evening.

His recorded message, said “If this is truly a pet emergency, please call …”

It was obvious that Molly was in distress; her right eye swollen shut. We were outside most of the afternoon working in the backyard. Did she get something in it? Was she stung by an insect?

Is this truly an “emergency?” Thinking back, when Chloe was stung by an insect, it was simply Benadryl and baby aspirin. The problem I had was that I couldn’t remember the dose. And Molly didn’t have the allergic “swollen face” reaction like Chloe had.

Yes, this was an emergency. We drove Molly over the the Thousand Oaks Animal Hospital to have her examined. Of course, as soon as we get there, her eye opened up and I’m starting to get embarrassed for my over reaction, especially …

When all the dogs coming in we’re real emergencies. A dog fight here, a stabbing there. I’m starting to feel like I’m at the County Hospital.

It took about an hour for them to see Molly. The first thing they asked was “does she need to be muzzled?” Strange question coming from a Vet. Yes. Her eye is painful and you want to examine it. You want to take her rectal temperature? Yes, like you, she hates things getting inserted in it. (And she certainly hates dryer sheets getting pulled from it.)

She’s running a fever. Good that’s a start. Her body is fighting an infection. The Vet drops local anesthetic into both eyes. Says he’ll back in 5 minutes. Fifteen go by. He’s now looking at the paw of the stabbed German Shepard puppy which got in the way when it’s owner dropped a knife from the kitchen counter top.

He comes back with a technician. Apparently I’m not doing a very good job at holding Molly, cause she’s violently trying to escape my hold. The technician does a great job and the Vet finally tells us that he needs to put in one more set of drops in 15 minute intervals, and then put in a stain to examine her eyes for any scratches or debris.

Exactly what I needed to hear. They do the last set of drops, wait. Stain. Wait. Come back and examine Molly’s glowing yellow stained eyes. One more test… Tonometry to test the pressure and Molly goes off to the back room for the test and comes back 15 minutes later.

We wait around for another 45 minutes to check us out of the Hospital. The receptionist starts going over the Dr’s instructions for the medicine. except that the Vet never came back to tell us what was Molly’s problem. The Dr. is on the phone. Wait another 15.

Tentative diagnosis: anterior uveitis OD, idiopathic. He doesn’t know if it was blunt trauma or bacterial. He treats her for the inflammation, pain and an antibiotic; two different drops and one pill for pain and inflammation. Start treatment tonight.

After 4 hours, it’s nearly the next day by the time we get home from the Thousand Oaks Animal Hospital. We’re all tired, but Molly is really good and lets me put the drops in her eye. She didn’t need a muzzle after all.