Happy 11th Birthday Rilley!

Rilley, the birthday boy!

Today marks Rilley's 11th Birthday and his second "bonus" birthday since the experimental cancer treatment at the University of Minnesota saved his life.  Well, it isn't really his birthday at all.  It is actually the ninth anniversary of the day he crashed into our lives.  You see, since we adopted him from the Orangeville SPCA we've never known his true birth date.  All they could tell us at the time was that he was two years old.  So, around our house we have come to recognize April 28 as Rilley's birthday.

Our favourite local haunt!
Just about everyday of the week one of us is in there!

To celebrate, we took Rilley out for the day.  As usual, we stopped to grab a coffee at Schillaci's, our favourite local cafe and espresso bar.  Much to Rilley's delight, when I returned to the Jeep, I came with a Milkbone.  They must get enough customers that come by with Fido in tow that they keep some behind the counter.  It was a very nice surprise, thanks Michelle!

First, we took him for a visit to Ren's Pet Depot.  He's been really shedding lately, so we wanted to pick up a few supplies.  Deshedding shampoo, shedding blade and a drain filter for bath time.  It's interesting to note, as we have only taken him to pet stores much a few times before, that he seems to behave himself when around other dogs in a pet store.  I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but whenever we take him on a walk around the neighbourhood he has his moments whenever there is another dog on the sidewalk.  Dropping into stealth mode, the fur along his spine stands on end and he does his best imitation of an intimidating canine.  Fortunately, it's not an Oscar winning performance!  As we were checking out at Ren's, the cashier tried to offer Rilley a treat...but beagle boy turned his nose up at it.  Apparently, as the girl said, the sweet potato slice wasn't exactly popular among the other dogs either!

We'd never been in Ren's before...what a better day than
Rilley's Birthday!

After Ren's it was off to Bark and Fitz in Oakville.  The girls wanted him to have some special treats from their doggie bakery.  We picked out a doggie brownie and a giant peanut butter dog bone cookie.  Of course, he got another treat from the person behind the counter!

Almost a birthday tradition.
Rilley's had treats from there before on his special day!

A doggie brownie and a rather large peanut butter cookie.

Since he was receiving all the treats, we decided to take him for a walk by the lake.  Ok, so that may not be entirely true.  We had planned on going down to Lake Ontario all along as Sara was interested in seeing what Rilley's reaction would be to the water.  Needless to say he was tentative...I wasn't expecting him to go in as it was pretty cool out, it is April after all.  We did walk right up to were the water was lapping up on shore and stood on the rocks to have a drink.  He didn't seem to like the water.  Whenever the small waves would get to close, he would jump back.  The one time it came in too fast and splashed over his paws he really didn't look all that impressed.

Rilley's first visit to Lake Ontario.

"I don't want my paws to get wet!"

However, one of the funniest moments happened on our way back to the car; we had parked it in front of Bark and Fitz.  Rilley was convinced that the store was calling his name and tried to pull Elizabeth back in.

"Hello?  Any more treats?"

Sorry, Rilley, it may be your birthday, but you can't keep going into the store in the hopes of getting another tasty treat!

On the way home, Elizabeth decided to give him the rather large peanut butter cookie.  Now, we only live that far north of Oakville, but needless to say, Rilley had polished off every last morsel before we got home.

"Gimme, gimme, gimme!  It's MY birthday!"

Tonight, the girls gave Rilley a good brushing with the new shedding blade and according to Sara his coat is now all shiny and soft!

I think the day really tuckered him out.  He is fast asleep at the foot of the bed right now.

So that's the day it's been on this, the 28th of April, 2012...Rilley's 11th birthday, or his 77th if you are counting in dog years!

Happy Birthday Rilley!

By the way, last week I added a new feature to the blog.  Just underneath the banner I've added three counters to keep track of the days since his first seizure, since his diagnosis and since his first visit to the University of Minnesota (the day of his surgery).  As you can see the numbers are quite impressive!

Oops, I did it again!

Rilley, the Easter Beagle, stuffed again!

It seems that no matter how old he gets, Rilley never learns his lesson.  Just like the Simpsons episode in which Lisa is determined to find out "Is my brother dumber than a hamster?"  Bart relentlessly tries to grab the electrified cupcake, while the hamster figures it out after just one try.  Ok, I digress...anyway, Rilley got into the fridge again this afternoon...apparently the kids forgot to lock it.  Well, he found the left over ham from yesterday's Easter dinner...and there was a lot of left over ham as it was a meal for just the four of us.

Try as they might, the girls did their best to get it from him, but when he has a tasty chunk of meat it is really the only time he becomes seriously over protective of an object.  So upon hearing him growl, one of the only sounds he makes, they backed off and let him carry it outside to bury.  Besides, I really don't think we'd be eating it now....

So, at the end of the day, a few things became apparent:

1. He must be regretting it...as you can see in the picture above he's looking a little sorry for himself and is preferring to lie around moving as little as possible.
2. He is actually full...for once in his life!  He didn't even beg for his dinner tonight and we figured it would be best if we didn't give it to him.  Oddly, he doesn't seem to miss it.
3. Later, when I was in the kitchen making my lunch for tomorrow (with cold cuts out) he came down and walked right past to go outside.  Rilley didn't even raise his nose to see what food was out.
4. We don't think he's going outside to retrieve some buried morsels...actually, we don't even think the poor guy remembers where he hid it.
5. "Flatulence the Wonder Dog" is back!  Need I say more?

One good thing is that this time around he doesn't seem to feel the need to dispense the contents of his stomach on our bed!  Whoo hoo...lucky us!

Perhaps one day Rilley will learn that eating everything in sight is not such a good idea.  One day....