National Mutt Day

Here's a little something to add to your "I did not know that" pile.

Today, December 2nd, is National Mutt Day.  Hey, I had not idea this existed either!  I only found out about it through my Facebook news feed and a post from the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center.

Interestingly, this day is celebrated not once, but twice a year...July 31st and December 2nd.  So why am I writing about this?  Well, despite Rilley's rugged good looks, he is not a pure bred beagle, he is indeed a mixed breed, or mutt, as it were.  Furthermore, not only is he a mixed breed, but he is a mixed breed we rescued from the shelter.  You see?  This day seems to be far more important for Rilley than it would at first appear.

So there you have it!  As the saying goes, you learn something new everyday.

Happy National Mutt Day Rilley!  (And if we don't have one in Canada, may be we should!)

The Little Town that Rilley Loves

An interesting concept was presented to me a few weeks ago.  The website www.dogvacay.com has a photo sharing campaign through which you can show how your dog represents his or her home town.  Now I'm not one to randomly promote commercial endeavours, however it was through DogVacay's online forums that Sara had found some of the dog-friendly hotels that we used on our road trips to Minneapolis.  While that was a huge benefit for us, their main purpose is to help you find a dog sitter near home.

As those who have followed the blog from the beginning know, we adopted Rilley from the SPCA in nearby Orangville when he was two years old.  Since then he has been an official Georgetown, Ontario resident for 10 full years and he couldn't be happier!  Here are a few of his favourite things about our little town.

Going for car rides.

Exploring the trails of Hungry Hollow!

Winning the ribbon for "Dog with the Longest Ears" at
the Georgetown Fair! (Okay, this photo is a bit old...2004
but he did return to claim his crown again a few years later!)

Halloween!  Rilley dressed up in 2007 as "Underdog" to
"rescue" as many treats as he could.

And just looking adorable and happy to be alive!
Photo credit: Chris So of The Toronto Star

We may live in a small town, but thanks to the second chance Rilley has been given by being a cancer survivor he still has time to experience the many other things that our beautiful little part of the province has to offer!

To give credit where credit's due, this idea was passed on to me by fellow pet-blogger Shaye Walsh of Milwaukee who wrote a similar post about her dog Sheba.  Check it out:
http://simplyshaye.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/the-brew-city-that-i-love/

Rilley Goes International!

Publishing a blog results in a lot of information being posted, read, picked up by search engines and distributed.  Every once in a while we will sit down and Google phrases related to the blog in an attempt to track where our posts and stories about Rilley end up.  Most hits are links back to the blog or to the newspaper and television stories on their originating websites.

Today, however, I came across a German magazine called "Partner Hund".  They describe themselves as "Das Magazin für Hundefreunde" or "The Magazine for Dog Lovers."  Image my surprise when I found, in a section of their August issue entitled "News from the dog world", a short article about Rilley.  Judging by the pictures, they must have pulled the story that was written by Isabel Teotonio of The Toronto Star (June 1, 2013 - Saturday Edition) off a newswire service and written their own, condensed version.  Their story was called "Second Life for Rilley".

The interesting thing is that, despite The Star being a major Canadian newspaper, we never imagined it would be a conduit to his story appearing as far away as Europe.  As for the article itself, it was simply a very brief synopsis detailing the diagnosis, prognosis, clinical trial at the University of Minnesota, treatment and the promising outcome (with a bit of little-girl-loves-her-furry-"brother" thrown in to tug at the heart-strings). 

It's just too bad that they didn't try to contact us directly, I could have impressed them with my (very rusty) ability to speak German.  Well...maybe not...perhaps in the end it's best it didn't come to that.  (I had to use a translation website to help me read it...some of those German words are long!)

If you can read German there is an online version of the magazine, simply follow this link:

http://issuu.com/helicopeter1234/docs/partner_hund_-_august_2013

Pet Cancer Awareness Month

November is Pet Cancer Awareness month and throughout the month the Veterinary Medical Center at the University of Minnesota, where Rilley was treated, has been posting related stories on their Facebook page.  Today they wrote a post to commemorate Rilley's third anniversary as a survivor, including a brief outline of the their involvement.  I hope that their compassionate, caring and amazing team is aware of the far reaching impact of their work.

Taken from the VMC's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/umnVMC?hc_location=timeline

Please take the time to visit their page.  If you are a pet owner, there is a lot of useful information and tips there.  If you're not, I'm confident you will find the stories interesting.

MILESTONE: Surviving for 3 Years!

Rilley with his new stuffed friend.

Today we celebrate another major milestone in Rilley's life.  It is hard to believe that it has already been three years since Rilley's surgery in Minneapolis.  Time has certainly flown since November 4, 2010.  It may be cliché, but it really does seem like yesterday that we were packing the Jeep to hit the road for the first time.

A lot has happened since then and we have documented all the ups and downs right here on the blog.   There have been many helpful and dedicated professionals along the way and I always thought it would be fun to list them all.  So here it goes:

Mountainview Animal Hospital

Dr. Stephanie Ewing

University of Minnesota

Dr. Elizabeth Pluhar

John Ohlfest, Ph.D

Dr. Matthew Hunt

Brian Andersen, Ph.D

Jessica Bedi

University of Guelph

Dr. Fiona James

Mississauga Oakville Veterinary Emergency Hospital

Dr. Meredith Gauthier

Dr. Carolina Duque

It is thanks to all those people, and the legions of staff that work with them, that Rilley has been able to make it to this point.  As I had said in a post near the beginning of this journey, Rilley really does have more doctors than most people!

Another pair of characters that have seen him through his surgery and beyond are his favourite stuffed animals, Winnie the Pooh and Bunny.  They've had put up with a lot.  Winnie not only came along for the ride on our first trip to Minnesota but he also comforted Rilley during his stay in ICU.  Bunny came along on subsequent trips and through it all they have been his favourite toys.  They have seen better days though.  Sara has had to perform many a reconstructive surgery on both of them whenever Rilley decided to go Tony Soprano on them and take out his frustrations.

As a way of commemorating today, Sara picked up a new stuffed buddy for him, complete with a scarf imprinted with the year.  Hopefully he gets welcomed into the fold of Rilley's little clan.

Here's to celebrating many more anniversaries Rilley!

And now for something completely different....

I thought it would be nice to share something entirely unrelated to Rilley or brain tumours.  This is a video that I came across today and it made me smile.  It was also right up my alley as it combines dogs, especially the drooling ones, and a favourite technology of mine...high speed video cameras.  It was created by photographer Carli Davidson in collaboration with a production company called Variable to promote her new portrait book "Shake", a collection of stills of dogs doing just that...shaking their heads.

Check it out...it will make you smile too.

SHAKE from Variable on Vimeo.

Rilley Rocked the Neurological Exam!

The Small Animal Clinic at the University of Guelph

Well, it's that time of year again!  Rilley had his annual neurological check up today with his neurologist Dr. Fiona James at the University of Guelph's Small Animal Clinic.

Recently there have been a couple things that had us concerned, so today's follow up appointment came about at the right time.  Two weeks ago, we had taken Rilley for a walk, one that was a little bit longer than usual.  When we returned home his hind legs were shaking.  Then the next evening Rilley experienced a breakthrough seizure.  It was his third in almost as many years and presented itself in the exact same manner; rapid, uncontrolled jaw movement that lasts for about 10 to 15 seconds.  It could also be described as teeth chatter, although his teeth never contact each other.

Rilley waiting to be called in to see the neurologist.

When we arrived, Dr. James was just finishing up a procedure with another patient, so we met with one of her residents who had briefed herself on Rilley's history beforehand and knew the major points of his case.  She took him off to meet up with Dr. James so they could perform the physical and neurological exams.

We are pleased to report that Rilley passed the physical and neurological exams with flying colours and he had even lost some weight!

To follow up on our concerns, Dr. James' advice was, as we had been told by Dr. Pluhar in Minnesota, that seizures are not an uncommon occurrence in dogs who have had tumours removed and since his have been so minor and infrequent, we should not be overly concerned.  As for his back, beagles are apparently prone to some disc compression in their lower backs as they age and that may contribute to the shaking.  Additionally, the shaking appears to be positional; meaning that it only occurs when he sits or stands in a certain way...if we notice him shaking, a slight move is all it takes to make it stop, which a lot of times Rilley will do on his own anyway.

So all in all, the recent concerns were not an indication of any decline in his health and Dr. James was pleased to see that Rilley is continuing to thrive.

Way to go Rilley, you really did rock the neuro-exam!

(You'd think that with all the time he's spent at universities that he'd be close to getting his own Ph.D.)