EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency

Scout turned 1 year old on New Years Eve, complete with a blue moon, lunar eclipse and fireworks. We did celebrate her birthday, but at the time we were also very concerned about the health of Boss, so it was not as big a party as she deserved. So we are celebrating her Gotcha Day this week. Last year, on March 4th, we waited anxiously at the airport for the arrival of our little baby girl fuzzbutt. She came flying out of her crate, into our laps and hearts! Even though this is off topic for an EPI forum, I thought you still might enjoy some puppy photos of her and Boss from last spring.

OKAY, LET'S DISCUSS WHAT THE RULES ARE AROUND HERE

RULE #1 - WHAT IS YOURS IS MINE

RULE #2 - YOU GOTTA LOOK AT THINGS FROM EVERY ANGLE

RULE #3 - ONLY ONE AT A TIME GOING THRU THE MAGIC DOOR

RULE #4 - LISTEN

RULE #5 - YOU GOTTA STICK TOGETHER

It is hard to believe she has been hogging the bed for a year!  TIme sure does fly!

Becky

Becky, I just popped over while doing homework and looked at this and had to comment.  This is soo precious!  Just beautiful pictures of the two of them together and you did such a nice job of putting it together in a story!  These are your precious moments for sure.  2 beautiful dogs and a fantastic mom.  Would love to see/hear more.  Happy Gotcha Day!

Becky,

What can one say to these but AWWWW!!!!  They are so precious together!

Karen/Donna - Thanks, I was not sure if I should post them here since they were non EPI but then I thought "who would not want to see puppy pictures?"  Boss loved her from the start but he did have to learn to curb his enthusiasm the first few weeks so that he did not accidently hurt her.  She would egg him on "come on big guy, I can take it".  Only moments later she would be diving into my lap for safety.  He would stand there shaking his head "women, they just can't make up their minds".  They are a precious pair!

Becky

Oh Becky, those are the sweetest pics!!! Never ever think twice about whether you should or shouldn't post any pictures here...they are always welcome .....and we so enjoy looking at pictures!!! and these are such fab photo's  !!!  I really love the "what's yours is mine"  and "ya gotta stick together". The expression on their faces are just perfect!

Thanks for sharing these with us!!!!

Becky, what absolutely gorgeous photo's of your two beautiful babies.  I loved seeing them & I know everyone else will too.  They definately have that magic bond (as mine do:wink. So lovely to see.  Thankyou so much for posting them.

I can't stop smiling & looking at them.  They are certainly going into my 'epi family album' I have made. 

Lynn & girls.

Becky:

Always feel free to share your family.  Yes, it's an EPI forum but we care about all of you.  She was a beautiful baby who has grown into a stunningly beautiful girl.  You're right, the time does indeed fly by very fast and they sure don't stay little puppies very long.  The pictures are wonderful...thank you so much for sharing them.  Happy Gotcha Day!!!

Becky,

The pictures and comments are great. The two of them are beautiful!

they both are absolutely gorgeous - nice pictures

OMG these are PRECIOUS............   and ohhhhh  so beautiful............   I can't stop looking at them.........  awesome pics.... 

If you are intersted, you can settle in and read the following story of how destiny had a hand in picking out Scout as the pup to join our family. Our family has always felt more complete with two GSDs. We like that they have another of their own species to interact with and to put it bluntly, we like having a spare... spread the love around. The one time we had to come home to an empty house without a fur ruff to bury our heads in and cry was about more than I could handle and I did not want to experience that again. So after Boss turned one year old we started thinking of adding another. We knew we wanted another german showline longcoat and found the breeder we wanted (longcoats are a recessive gene that show up every so often in breedings and are against the GSD standard). We put a deposit down for the next female longcoat that showed up in one of her litters. Every day, for about a month, the talk was puppy, puppy, puppy. It was like waiting for the notice that you won the lottery. The day before Thanksgiving, Rich suddently became very ill and was admitted to the hospital to have his one year old artifical hip removed. I came home from the hospital that exact day to find an email from the breeder that she had a pup for us. Rich was going to have a non weight bearing spacer as a hip and be on IV antibiotics for two months before they could put in a new artificial hip. It was not the time to bring a new pup home so, with heavy hearts, we passed on that pup and told her we would have to wait until spring. Fast forward to February when we come home from the doctors appointment where we were told Rich's new artifical hip was solid and he was good to go. That exact day we receive an email from the breeder that she had another litter with a longcoat female and wanted to know if the timing would be right for us. You betcha! The daily topic again became puppy, puppy, puppy and 3 weeks later, her March 4th "Gotcha Day" arrived and we picked her up at the airport! The timing just made it feel like Fate that she was the one for us!

As a side story, Boss, for still being such a young pup himself, did great while Rich was recovering. When they did laps in the house with the walker, Boss automatically healed up beside the walker in open spaces and "lead the way" was the call for navigating narrow hallways/doors where they could not fit side by side. Rich had the IV lines and pump hanging off his right arm and he was nervous about Boss getting tangled up in them. So Boss learned if he wanted to play ball when Rich was sitting in the recliner he had to come up on the left side when placing his ball to be thrown. And if it was a bad day, Boss was there providing a grin by doing something goofy like barking at boucing red balls on some silly tv commercial. When they put the new hip in they prescribed this great gizmo that has a sleeve you velcro around the hip and it fills with ice water to help with swelling and pain. It had a seperate chamber portion that is filled with water and ice and would circulate the ice water thru the sleeve on set timed intervals. Here is a picture of Boss drinking out of what he thought was his personal watering station.

Becky

Becky, that is such a lovely story, & again a gorgeous photo of Boss.  I so agree with you that we were meant to have these dogs.  Everything happens for a reason (although there are many times that we wonder why). 

Boss & Scout are absolutely gorgeous & we love seeing these lovely photo's of them. 

Lynn & girls.

Becky,

Lynn is 100% correct...Every dog comes into our lives for a reason and we are simply caretakers of these devine creatures for the short time they are around, but they they stay in our hearts forever.... They have a purpose and chose us.

Oh Becky,  that was a beautiful, touching story.. WOW... talk about meant to be, eh?! 

Your husband sounds like such a lovely man, i am so sorry to hear that he had to go through such pain and issues with his hip. I do hope that he now zips around each day without a worry at all!

And having two dogs...well,  i know exactly what you mean.....

Olesia -

Rich is doing great with this replacement hip - it has been over a year and no problems.  He jokes we got the longer warranty period with this one.  Getting the hip replacement done originally was not fun but then being told a year later they have to cut it out and do it all over again...  it was a nightmare.  But he is a tough cookie   

The one advantage for the pups has been being allowed on the bed.  This was a no-no with our previous dogs but since it was hard at first for Rich to get down on the floor to play we let them up on the bed.  And now there is no going back.  We upgraded to a king size bed but the last one in at night can still come up short of room! 

Lynn/Donna -

I agree 100%.  The special needs Boss has only reaffirms that for me.  I flew down to Seattle to get him and had the pick of 3 males.  From previous conversations with the breeder she thought I would select the largest male.  As he stood in the middle of the food dish hogging it all, I thought "my last pup was a food hog and we battled him always thinking he was starving and always being overweight.  Not too sure about this guy."  I focused on the other 2 which seemed identical.  The one jumped in my lap.  I was told the other one was more independent and liked to sleep by himself next to the water dish instead of piled up with the others.  Going by the book, I should have selected the one that jumped into my lap but for some reason I was drawn to the other one.  I was torn on what to do and Rich was not with me but after talking to him on the phone, told me to go with my gut.  So Boss, the independent one that slept by the waterdish by himself flew home as carry on luggage the next day with me.  I am so thankful I went with my gut and not by the book. 

Becky

p.s. I think he is more of a free thinking spirit than independent.

I am still sorting thru baby pictures to send to the breeder.  Here are some from last summer so you can see we are not a black and white world all year round

Scout - Helping garden

Scout - Enjoying a spring day

Scout - Sneaking up on Boss

Baby Boss

Baby Boss and his race track

One of the few pictures I have of the dynamic duo together sitting still

Looks like Boss was cut out of the picture of the two of them together.  I tried resizing it so maybe he will show up in this one...

I am waiting for you guys to find your puppy pictures to share 

WHAT BEAUTIFUL PUPS!!!  OMG!   They were meant to be together from day one - you can see it.  You have amazing creatures there - beautiful!!!  Thank u for sharing those amazing photos.  Where do you live - it looks amazing!!!!

Becky,

Gosh not only are your dogs beautiful, where you live is beautiful too... so peaceful looking.

Love the puppy pictures and the dynamic dual pic....and the one ear up and one ear down... just way to precious!

Ah Becky,  these pics. are absolutely gorgeous.  Just love seeing your two beautiful babies together. 

Keep them coming. 

Lynn & girls.