Blogs of The Fast and the Furriest Dachshund Molly

Living Life

2/28/2017

I know at times my Mom is left gob smacked by my resiliency. I don't think she fully understands this is a trait we dogs are born with. We don't have the emotional baggage our hoomans do. We don't spend a lot of time thinking about the what ifs. It's a blessing if you ask me.

The one thing that can seriously cripple us, is our hoomans. Not losing our sight, or losing a limb, but losing the support of the people we love. We pups are hardwired to need our peoples devotion. We need that like we need air to breathe. As long as I know I have my pawrents by my side loving me and believing in me I can overcome any obstacle that's put in my way.

Every now and then Mom gets asked to share a picture that makes her proud to be a dog owner. I watched as she teared up a bit and made her post. I know my Mom is proud of the way I'm handling my vision loss, but I'd like to say it's in part due to my pawrents deep affection and belief in me that makes it possible. We pups don't have the words to tell our hoomans how we feel, but we have the ability to become a reflection of our owners love.

There are stories of incredible feats we dogs accomplish, but our accomplishments great or small are fueled by our love for our people. Love is the greatest motivation there is. If the love is strong, then there's nothing that a pup won't do for their hooman. Sometimes it's the simplest of truths that inspire the most incredible acts. A dogs thought is I love, thus I will.

Me I'm going to keep living my life one adventure at a time, drawing my strength in knowing my folks will be here helping me through whatever challenges life sends me with love, and patience. I'm thinking every now and then I'm going to accomplish something amazing just because that's what we pups do for the hoomans we love.

Love, Molly and my Mom

(Living Life One Adventure at a Time)

13 Comments

Rockin the Look

2/24/2017

19 Comments

As most of you know already I'm going blind... I have SARDS (Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome). This typically shows up in we dogs affected with this disease at 5 years of age. (Yups I'm 5 years old). We're trying a drug treatment to try and arrest my vision loss, but there's no guarantees there. Mom and Dad have gotten better with the idea of this. Which is a good thing as I'm doing well with everything. We dogs are an adaptable lot aren't we?

My hikes through my woods and fields had become a bit less adventurous due to my dogtors and pawrents concerns of my sustaining an eye injury due to my poor vision. Well let me tell you that's no longer a concern. My doggy glasses have arrived. Mom got me two different pair in two different styles. Mom and Dad say I rock the look. BOL What do you guys think? Me, I'm simply glad I can go back to my walks and hikes through my forest and fields. Although if this warm weather keeps up I'll bet the long hikes are going to be over as those pesky, nasty ticks will be out. Mom says she never wants to experience Rocky Mnt. Tick Fever ever again. Honestly I don't either as I didn't have my Mom for a sidekick for about 6 months.

I truly appreciate the kind words of support and concern from all my friends and furiends. My blog and inbox have been overwhelmed (as well as my Mom and I) with well wishes. We can't tell you what our new Blogville furiends and friends mean to us. It touches our hearts deeply knowing we're not going through this alone. Thank you for again for your support and friendship.

Love,

Molly and My Mom (dealing w SARDS one day at a time)

Mom did a collage or composite of me in my new Sun Glasses. (She and Dad say I totally "Rock the Look" . You can see for yourselves here.

19 Comments

Zombie Walk

2/21/2017

13 Comments

The weather here has been delightfully warm. This translates to long slow walks with lots of stopping for sniffs and just relaxing in the warmth of the sunshine. I'm growing used to Mom watching me a little more intently, and tugging on my leash when she thinks I'm getting too close to low hanging branches.

What's the old saying, "Life is what happens while we're making other plans". Yups that's it exactly. Life is the day to day what some people call," the mundane part of living". Not Mom and I. We enjoy our everyday lives.

Why take today's walk for example. It was a wonderful warm spring day, the birds were singing throughout the forest on our walk down the driveway. There was a cool, gentle breeze bringing me scents of my forest furiends as they camouflaged themselves in the dark of the woods. I could hear the frogs in the creek and at the pond singing for happiness that spring has sprung. (If only for a few days).

Admittedly I was caught up in our ordinary, everyday hike today. We had reached the end of our walk down the drive when I thought I had heard something rustling in the leaves just out of sight. I looked at Mom with my I'd like to walk farther look, (knowing of course she'd let me walk farther). Mom laughed and told me to go ahead,. That was all the sign I needed to tug impatiently on my leash. Giving my best Hurryy Upp Mom yips I started dragging Mom towards the noise at the edge of the woods. My hunting pup nose telling me the closer I got this was the "Zombie of Alll Zombies".

I rushed towards the curious scent when low and behold the UnDead Creature leapt from the branches and limbs of the trees. My eyes grew bigger and bigger (granted I don't see as well as I have in the past with my newly diagnosed SARDS, but I know a Zombie when I smell one). I took a step back and told my Mom I'd never seen such a huge monster in all my life. I knew in my heart of hearts this was a job for the #SausageArmy (The #SausageArmy is a worldwide band of Dachshunds committed to banishing Zombies where ever they may be found). I sent out a Tweet to the head of the #SausageArmy calling for all hands on deck in my area as I knew I'd truly found a Zombie. It wasn't long before I received a Tweet back from a #SausageArmy member asking me to take a picture of the Demon and send it to him. Well in the midst of an attack from an Undead Creature I simply didn't have time to take a photo.

I commenced to doing what any good #SausageArmy member would do. I began telling that creature it needed to go back to where it came from immediately. Why I don't think I could have barked any more words per min if I had tried. I backed up and the Undead Monster came closer! This really got my hackles raised. I decided to get close to my Mom as every pup knows Zombies are scared of Mom's. The Demon did indeed begin moving back towards the woods. This was my signal to take a more offensive attack. I rushed the undead creature and once again he came closer!

Mom told me it was time to let the Zombie be. She told me they weren't very bright creatures and I needed to give him some peace. Well reluctantly I followed my Mom.
You'll never believe this pawfuriends but the Zombie monster started following Mom and I. OMD!! I kept turning around barking at the Zombie to go back home, but he just kept following us. Mom stopped and made me sit by her foot. The undead creature came closer and even CLOSER.

Mom had me sit there quietly a min. told me Molly this is one of our neightbors chickens who has gotten lost looking for dinner in the woods. I looked at Mom like she was crazy and told her Mom this doesn't look like any chicken I've ever seen. Why it's got some kind of fluffy, fuzzy stuff all over it, and it makes a strange clucking noise. All the chickens I've seen are white with no fluffy on them and in my plate. Mom started laughing and told me Molly it's time to go home. I told her give me one min Mom I've got to Tweet to a furiend. I sent out a new Tweet to the #SausageArmy telling them it was a false alarm and I'd explain every thing later in a message.

Be careful pawfuriends there's Zombie's in them ther' woods.

Love, Molly and my Mom

13 Comments

Time

2/18/2017

33 Comments

Well almost a week has passed since my SARDS diagnosis and the pawrents don't seem as tense and stressed. Time is a wonderful healer and it gives our hoomans space to accept some of the things they find unacceptable at the moment. In my hoomans case the indisputable fact that I'm losing my vision. I know I've mentioned my Mom and Dad truly do try and roll with the punches. That doesn't mean they don't get a bit overwhelmed at times. They're coming to grips with things and I'm noticing a few changes about the house.

Although I'm not completely blind Mom has now marked the "safe" areas in our home with vanilla extract and the "not so safe" with lemon extract. She'll be adding a touch of vanilla to the bottom of her pants legs when we go on our hikes from now on. I have started learning my new commands, and I'm doing pretty well if I do say so myself. I'll be adding Doggles Sunglasses as a spiffy new accessory to my wardrobe ensemble. Yups Mom and my dogtor had a chat, they both feel with my not really being able to see it's probably best if I wear sunglasses as protection from eye injuries.

With everyone here at my house being preoccupied with our trip to the big city (and bigger animal hospital) spring seems to have sprung overnight. The daffodils and crocus are blooming as are some of Mom's flowering trees.

We went on a few short walks today. I had to keep up with my Dad while he was cutting trees along our driveway. My vision isn't the best anymore, but I could hear the birds are back from their visits to our more southern states. I could hear the frogs beginning to wake up from their long winters nap. It's true I don't see as well as I have in the past, but a walk on a lovely warm spring day still has its pleasures. Why I was even pulling Mom along telling her she needed to walk faster. BOL This did make her smile and eased some the worry lines around her eyes.

I'm not having any trouble (at only 25% vision )finding my Mom and telling her I want to go out for a walkie or that I want something to eat; nor am I having any problems climbing my steps to my puppy perches to "look" out my window and keep up with what's going on in the neighborhood.

So it's like I've barked earlier, given time and perspective nothing is quiet as dire as it seems in the beginning. I'm not saying the loss of my sight isn't serious, it is. What I am saying is our situations don't have to define us. We ourselves have the ability to define our situations. In other words life is what you make it dear pawfuriends. Life is what you make it.

Love, Molly and my Mom (Making it though life one step at a time)

(Prayers that this drug therapy arrest my vision loss are still appreciated. We won't know the outcome of this for several more weeks. Although this treatment doesn't work on every pup this is the only hope I have of saving some of my vision.)

33 Comments

Eye Exam Conclusions

2/14/2017

30 Comments

You pups have heard me say it a million times if you've ever heard me say it once. We lucky pups get the perfect hoomans. I know you've read the story of my sister Angel Penny finding my Mom and Dad for me before she made her journey to Rainbow Bridge. Penny knew after all my pawrents did to take care of her and her many health issues, they'd do the same for me should anything ever happen to me during my lifetime. Mom and Dad have always stepped up to take care of me regardless of whatever health challenges have occured and they've stepped up to help me with my developing vision loss.

Yups you read correctly I'm losing my vision. I have SARDS (Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration) The end result of this is loss of function and death of the photoreceptor cells in the retina that capture light. It is a permanent vision loss with no treatment or cure. There's no known cause for this disease. It is an autoimmune disease in some dogs and humans. It seems Dachshunds and Schnauzers,are more predisposed to developing SARDS then other breeds, although it can occur in any dog. It typically shows up between the ages of 5 -10 years of age.

There is a very small number of patients who show improvement in their vision with a drug cocktail therapy if the disease is caught early enough. Thankfully they did catch my declining vision early...We just don't know if they caught it early enough. So we're giving this drug therapy a try and praying hard this will arrest my vision loss with no further decline. We're even praying that some small part of my vision loss might be restored.

We're sorry there wasn't better news, but thankfully I have pawrents that truly believe you make the best of whatever life gives you. There's no guarantees during our time here on earth, and it's better to accept what we get and make the best of it.

Over the next weeks and months Mom will be teaching me some new commands to help me navigate after my vision is gone should this drug cocktail not work. I'll learn Left, Right, Wait, Up and Down so hiking through my woods and fields will still be an option for me. We all know what a fierce, brave hunting pup I am so Mom wants to keep my life as normal and full as it's always been. Should I end up not being comfortable hiking without sight we'll come up with a new plan on how to spend my days.

There will be no furniture rearranging (Dad's happy with that one) It's a good thing I've always worn a harness on our walks (due to our coyote problem and Dachshunds getting caught up in tracking) I will always have to wear one now as my vision isn't the best.

The thing that means the most to me is the reassurance in knowing what ever life may send me, my folks are going to be there beside me. Always with a loving touch and a kind word letting me know everything is going to be just fine and we'll get through it together..That's what family's do.

One thing I'd like to share about my Mom is every time she's noticed something related to my health that's seemed "off" she'd take me to my dogtor and get it checked out. There have been very few times that Mom's been wrong and I've made a trip in vain. Most of the time it's helped tremendously in my recovery from whatever health issue it was at the time. This time it may help salvage some of my vision. We would like to gently suggest this for all pup and pet owners.

Love,

Molly and my Mom (Getting through life one step at a time)

Pictures from my visit to the Animal Eye Care Center

30 Comments

Mom's Reflections

2/6/2017

51 Comments

Mom and I usually chat as we take our daily hikes. They're typically about nothing and sometimes everything. We enjoy each others company and after 5 years together we know each others moods.

The weather never matters, every day is a perfect day to take a walk in my mind. Today it was a beautiful day for a hike for each of us. We walked in silence for awhile, both enjoying the sounds of nature and the beauty around us.

All my life I've never thought about my Mom and her age. Things like that don't cross a pups mind very often. She's your Mom and that's the end of that. Today I was in a different sort of mood and it came to mind that my Mom is a little older than most.
This got me to wondering what life was like when Mom was a girl. So as every inquisitive pup would do I asked. "Mom what was it like when you were my age?" She looked at me, smiled, and said, "Molly, where is this coming from?" I said, "I don't know Mom, I just want to know what things were like when you were a pup".

Then the story began. Well, Molly, I grew up here on this farm we live on now. Our farm was much bigger then. I grew up playing and running through the same woods and fields you and I hike through. There were chores to do to help my Mom and Dad take care of the farm and animals. We would chop weeds from the garden rows and in each season we'd pick the vegetables and fruits. We'd can and freeze what we picked during the bountiful summer months to feast on during the winters.

There were summer evenings spent playing and splashing in rivers and streams with cousins who lived close by. There were sleepovers with my Grandmother where we'd chase lightening bugs. After we'd tire of that we'd gather round on my Grandmother's back porch eat popcorn and tell ghost stories with cousins.

Molly looked at her Mom and said, "That sounds like a perfect childhood Mom". Smiling my Mom said, "Life is what you make it Molly. There are people who throughout my life have said You must have grown up poor". The older I get the more I understand everything is relative, and how people perceive things depends on each individuals opinions and viewpoints.

I enjoyed my childhood. I am grateful for the values my farm life taught me. I love the sound of cattle lowing in the evenings. It brings back memories of going to feed and milk the cow, my dogs always keeping me company. I love hiking though our woods and fields and the peace that fills my soul as I think of my family that used to farm this land and the life we lived here.

After a few min.'s of silence Molly says," Mom I see what you're saying, everything depends on your perspective". That's right Molly, "You can look at your life and the lessons you've learned as a blessing and be thankful for each one, or you can resent your life, complain about everything you've ever experienced focus only on the negative, and never see your blessings or claim your happiness. Life is what you make it."

Molly smiled as they turned around to go back home, gave a happy wag of her tail and said," Mom I love our life and I love having you for my Mom". Giving me a glance with a smile on her face, my Mom said, " Molly I love you too."

Praying we all have the vision to see our blessings.

Love, Molly and my Mom

51 Comments

Living Life

Rockin the Look

Zombie Walk

Time

Eye Exam Conclusions

Mom's Reflections

Introduction

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