Life...gone to the dogs

Hey Y'all,

Today was an adventure to say the least. I have 2 dogs. Darla, a 12 year old tiny, 4 pound Shi-tzu and Hunter, a 13 year old, overweight (38 pounds) beagle. They give new meaning to high-maintenance. First of all Darla gets me up 2 to 3 times a night to go out to potty. She has a bladder the size of a walnut. She never barks in the house she just tiptoes down the hall and stands at my door and growls until I get up and let her out. I hear her coming because I have only hardwood flooring and her little nails clickety-click on the floor. I also have to go out with her because there is this big ole hoot owl that stalks her and I am afraid it will swoop down and eat her up. If only! Just kidding..... For years she was crate trained but somehow that stopped and now I am doomed. She is worse than a newborn. If I don't get up she will trot right to the dining room and pee right under David's chair. Precious. When I go to work I take her downstairs to the laundry room and basement. We have a finished basement in one half and the other is a combo laundry room, bathroom and storage. For about 4 years I have left her down there from 6:30 in the morning until 1:30 in the afternoon when I get home. If she has to go I leave puppy papers down and that works great. The only problem is she does bark when I am not home because she thinks I am home. She is not the brightest of dogs. My husband says he has heard her bark for hours. He works next door and hears her in his landscaping shop and office. Did I mention Darla hates David? The feeling is mutual. They just do not associate...at all. Anyway, today when I got home I heard her barking her head off. So when I went downstairs I found her. Somehow she had managed to get her stupid self stuck to the floor with 3 glue traps I had placed under a cabinet. She had 3 paws stuck to the floor and was covered with glue. To remove it was an unreal experience. She is like bathing a rabid rottweiler. She is now hid under a bed exhausted with baby oil all over her little paws. How she managed to get under and back out of that cabinet I will never know. I use those glue traps for spiders and camel crickets that scare me to death. I guess I will just be creeped out from now on. Now for my other dog, Hunter. He is a cancer/stroke survivor that really needs a resthome. He is completely deaf from the stroke and is really weak legged from the removal of a canerous tumor this past fall. Did I mention he has seizures too. Unreal. Today when I got back from an errand he was so excited I was home he went running across the yard. His big belly dragging the ground and of course he fell in a hole with his weak leg. Then he had a seizure which drew him up in a kind of comma shape and then (there is more) he preceded to roll down a small hill in the yard like a donut. Actually it was kind of funny. I stop the car, get out and massage his back until it passes. I fed him and put him up for the night. He was so thankful to go to bed. Pray for them and me! I think I will go to bed too!!

Bless Y'all and your dogs!

Cindy