The blog posts have been a little slow lately. So here is an update. We took Bonnie and Clyde for their second set of shots. In the 4 weeks since last visiting the vet, Clyde gained a little over 10 pounds and Bonnie gained 7. They were once again the stars of the vet's office. I am pretty sure that they think that the vet's office is where they go to get to see all kinds of other dogs that they want to play with. They can't play with them yet because their shots aren't finished, but they really really want to.
After the vet visit, we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's house for a while. B & C remembered them instantly. Grandma immediately got to work fixing scrambled eggs for the furry grandkids, who think she is the best grandma ever. (They haven't met Dad's mom yet, so right now she's the only grandma they know). Grandpa let them jump up on his legs when he sat down and then petted them. Bonnie still thinks she needs to be friends with their cat. The cat still disagreed. He swatted her on the head and she yelped like she was in pain- which was actually kind of funny because he is declawed. I think it was just the idea of being swatted.
It has been getting hotter here, and playtime in the yard mostly happens under the shade of a tree these days.

Since bringing Bonnie and Clyde into our lives, we have been doing a lot of research on Google- what kind of food is best for pitbull puppies, training methods that work best with pitbulls, breed specific health issues, etc. We also did quite a bit of looking at Google Images to see whether or not they looked like typical pitbull puppies and how big we might expect them to be. While on Google, we discovered not only that "pitbull" is not actually a single breed but rather a term used to describe several breeds, but also that there is such a thing as an American Bulldog that is even larger than the American Pitbull Terrier, which I think is what Bonnie and Clyde are. I (Mom)  was perfectly happy with Bonnie and Clyde and was quite content to just ooh and ahh at the pictures of the American Bulldog puppies. Dad however, became a little fixated on the idea of having 130lb dogs in addition to Bonnie and Clyde and decided that we needed two more puppies.
When we were at the Vet with Bonnie and Clyde, he told us not to take them around any puppies because they are not finished with their puppy shots yet and are vulnerable to parvo. After much discussion on the subject and objections from Mom about getting any new puppies before B & C were done with their shots, Dad decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and bring home two new American Bulldog puppies. He also decided that they needed their ears cropped. So we waited for their ears to heal a little and agreed to pick them up the Thursday following July 4th. On Wednesday, we found out that one of the puppies had died suddenly with no previous symptoms. The breeder thought that it was a possibility that one of his kids had dropped it without telling him. Mom was instantly concerned and tried to convice Dad to wait a couple of days to make sure that the second one didn't get sick too and expose B & C. Dad was convinced that the puppy would be safer at our house. Mom agreed on that part and we decided to take the risk and bring her home. When we went to pick her up, her personality had completely changed from when we had looked at her. Before, she was very lively and energetic, trying immediately to play with Mom's hand. This time, she wasn't moving around at all and just wanted to be held. (Sign #1 that something wasn't quite right). The breeder said that she hadn't eaten all day but that they had finally gotten her to eat a little bit. (Sign #2).
When we got her home, we couldn't get her to eat or drink at all. She even resisited when we tried to force her mouth open to drizzle a little water into her mouth. She was very tired (Sign #3) and only wanted to be snuggled. Even though she hadn't eaten all day, her belly was really puffy- almost distended, and Mom was a little concerned about it (Sign #4).
We let B & C smell her a little. They were totally excited. Clyde started licking her head gently and trying to nudge her to get her up. She was a little scared of him and just looked up at Mom (who was holding her at the time) with big eyes. They were both very gentle around her and really wanted to be able to lick and play with her.
We were a little worried about her and didn't want to leave her in the other room while we slept or in a kennel where we couldn't see what was going on. We made a little pile of newspaper and folded towels for her to rest on the bed with us so that we could keep a closer eye on her. Somewhere around 11 the trouble really started. She got up and peed on the towel, which we quickly changed out. That part was to be expected- little puppies can't hold it for very long. Not long after that though, she started throwing up. A lot. (Sign #5). Throughout the night, she alternated peeing and throwing up. By morning, she had apparently thrown up everything that had been in her stomach and was just skin and bones. She did #2 in the yard, and walked around a little. She was very wobbly, but we think that was just because of dehydration and not having anything in her stomach. We tried putting peanut butter and yogurt on her muzzle. She would lick it off a little but not much. She wouldn't drink anything.
We were going to take her to the vet with B & C on Saturday, but we decided that she wouldn't make it to Saturday at this rate and that we needed to take her in right away. We took her to the local vet, and he told us that her condition was very poor and that she only had a 50-50 shot at survival. I think he knew that she probably wouldn't make it but didn't want to freak us out. He checked her for Parvo and worms. The Parvo test came back negative- which apparently is not definitive and could mean that she still had it but it wasn't showing up yet. The vet told us that she had worms really bad and that they were causing the weakness, anemia, loss of apetite, vommiting, etc. He gave us two worm medicines to give her and some nutritional vitamin paste. We took her home and gave them to her immediately. I think though, that it was a little too late, and she passed away in our arms around 5pm (less than 24 hours after we brought her home). We were absolutely heart broken.
Our attention immediately turned to Bonnie and Clyde. We started them on a course of broad spectrum dewormer right away just in case they had caught any worms from her and washed everything she had come into contact with, with bleach. All of the counter surfaces and the clothes that we had worn were also washed with bleach just in case she had Parvo after all. We even poured bleach on the spot in the yard where she had had a bout of diarhea in the afternoon before she died. B & C got their second round of puppy shots two days later on Saturday. The puppy shots, dewormer and flea medicine combined made their stools a little runny for part of a day and we instantly worried they might have gotten sick from the puppy. We fed them pumpkin, which helped and within a day or so, they were back to normal.
Here is a picture of our little Popcorn sleeping on Dad's lap when we first brought her home. Notice the peanut butter on her upper lip and the distended belly. You can also see in this picture that despite the belly, she was fairly boney. I think that all of the food she was eating was going to the worms instead of her. Such an adorable little puppy! We had already named her Popcorn before picking her up- even though the name didn't quite fit any more.

The lesson to be learned from all of this, is that you should always listen to your vet. If he says not to expose your puppies to any other dogs, then you should keep them away from other dogs until their shots are finished. Having a sick puppy around is a huge risk. We have been keeping B & C isolated from other dogs and have been giving them really high quality food and lots of affection. I feel like all of this has made their immune systems stronger, but it is not worth the risk. We have agreed not to bring any more animals home until they are finished with their vaccinations. Losing Popcorn was hard even though we had only had her a day. We have had Bonnie and Clyde much longer and have grown much more attached to them.
The second lesson we learned from this is that Google is dangerous- especially the Images tab. It can show you all kinds of things that you didn't know existed and make you think that you need them. Beware when looking at Google Images!!

For the past week or so, there have been quite a few June bugs in our back yard at night when we take the puppies out. (As an aside here, I'm not sure why exactly we call them June bugs. Here in Texas, we get loads of them in May and then some in July, but not too many in June). Bonnie has become quite the little June bug hunter.
Some summers, little frogs hide in the cracks in the concrete just outside the back door too, where the June bugs hide. We saw one a few nights ago but hadn't seen any others and didn't give it a second thought.
This morning we were outside and Bonnie started heaving and then threw up. We were discussing whether or not the soup bones we give them sometimes might make them queezy as we brought out one of the waste bags to pick up the little pile. Imagine our surprise when, as Dad scooped up the pile, a little frog jumped out! Apparently frogs are a little upsetting to the stomach.

The frog wasn't the only wildlife active in the back yard this morning. A little dove has decided that it likes hanging out in our yard, near the house. We think it may be suicidal. It sees the dogs are there, flies up onto the roof if they get too close and then comes back down. Today wasn't the first day that it has done this. It's been hanging around for a while. Today, it was sitting on the ground not drawing any attention to itself, when Bonnie and Clyde came running through the yard in a game of chase. They stirred up the little bird, causing the bird to fly up into the tree. Bonnie was completely startled and backed up. They then stared up into the tree trying to figure out where it went.

Bonnie has discovered that she can jump and has decided that she needs to sit in our chairs.

What better way to celebrate a national holiday than to run around the back yard?

Imagine our surprise when we were getting ready to sit down in the living room for a relaxing evening and noticed that Dad's cellphone charger's wire had been chewed through and the cellphone was not where it had been. About that time, we noticed Clyde chewing on something grey and plastic. Mom immdeiately retrieved the strange grey plastic object, only to realize that it was the battery cover from Dad's cellphone. To our dismay, the rest of the cellphone was nowhere to be found. There were discussions on whether or not they could have completely devoured the rest of the phone and the battery in the very few minutes that they had been alone in the living room before we got there. We looked high (relative to the puppies' eye-level) and low, but had no idea where the rest of the phone was.
To avert a total melt down between Dad and the puppies, Mom, Bonnie and Clyde took off to the cellphone store and got Dad a new phone. Once back with the new phone, we were sitting in the living room reprogramming contacts when Bonnie came walking in with the battery in her mouth. It was of course immediately confiscated. Finally, we noticed the rest of the phone under the base of the TV. We put the battery back in and the phone turned on. It would have still been usable except for the fact that the cover no longer lined up correctly and wouldn't stay on.
The phone had been sitting on an end table charging. Our theory is that the puppies went behind the chair and accidentally knocked it off. How they were able to chew through the wires without shocking themselves or tripping a breaker is still a mystery. The basic lesson we learned through all of this is that puppies and cellphones don't mix.
We were chatting with our friends at the local feedstore and told them about the cellphone incident. We were talking about them growing fast and fitting into the new harnesses we were buying. She reassured us that the harness is adjustable and will fit them for a while even though they are likely to grow very quickly because cellphones are very filling!
I'm thinking cellphones are not a part of a balanced puppy diet, so we are making sure to keep our cellphones, computer chargers and other miscellaneous electronics up high or in the other room away from sharp little puppy teeth.