A Birthday Tribute

Last night I finally looked at some pictures I'd downloaded from my point-and-shoot that were taken a couple of weeks ago when my friend Kati was visiting. Since I so rarely use that camera, the beginning of the bunch actually included a few videos from the last weeks of Celtic's life. Since yesterday would have been his 14th birthday, I started to put together a little video montage in his honor, but of course I didn't have time to finish it until this evening. We miss the little munchkin so much, sometimes it's hard to even look at his sweet face without being sad. Then again, it also warms my heart to see that he was still so happy in the last weeks of his life--the second couple of clips were actually taken just 4 days before he died.

As much as we love and adore our dear Hope and adorable Fresco, our love for them will never quite be the same as our love for Celtic and Steeler. The first furry babies to steal our hearts were our sweet Beagle-ish boys.

A Dog's Life

Last Wednesday I spent much of the day in Topeka completing the arrangements for our boys' final resting place. I say boys' and not boy's because Steeler's remains were actually involved as well as Celtic's. When Steeler died so suddenly five years ago, we had no idea where to have him cremated, so we took him to the Lawrence Humane Society where I volunteered. They were kind enough to do the cremation free of charge, but since their equipment wasn't exactly state of the art, let's just say the remains weren't processed very well. We didn't worry too much about it though, since it was always our intention to lay Steeler to rest with his brother when this time came.

So anyway, I took the little can containing Steeler's remains over to Topeka to the wonderful folks at Heavenly Pet Memorials. I'd discovered them on the Internet a week or so before Celtic passed, and I just can't say enough about how great they were. They were kind enough to take care of Celtic's body on a holiday weekend and also to process Steeler's remains with Celtic's for no extra charge. Now we have their finely processed ashes all put together in a beautiful and safely sealed velvet bag. Heavenly Pet Memorials had a big selection of urns and boxes, and they helped me pick out a beautiful box in which we'll eventually put their remains. Not only that, but they practically counseled me as well. Jody was the consultant there last Wednesday, and she sat there patiently as I talked about our dogs, cried a little, and even showed her pictures. I was there probably a good half hour, and she couldn't have been more caring and consoling.

When I got home from that trip to Topeka, I immediately started the search for the perfect picture to have engraved/etched onto the box. In my mind, I knew the one I wanted to use and remembered the frame it used to be in, but I couldn't for the life of me find the frame or the original in our old boxes of prints. I probably searched through pictures for at least 8 hours total before I finally found the negative on a roll that had no other pictures of the dogs at all. In the process of searching though, I found so many other pictures of the boys that I really loved, so now I'm not even sure if the sought after picture is even the one I want to use! Here are the ones that I'm most strongly considering--I would love your input in the comments!


From their puppyhood


At age 1


At about 3 years old


At about age 5


At age 9, just before Steeler died

For me, searching through all of those pictures was very therapeutic. As I looked back on the very full and active life that Celtic had, it was more difficult to be sad about his passing. As I was reminded of how close he and his brother were, it made me that much happier to think of them reunited in heaven.

During the great picture search I was also inspired to scan and then edit all of my favorite pictures--since I was a pretty horrible photographer in those pre-digital days! Someday I'll hopefully have time to put it to music in a better format, but for now, I hope you enjoy the slideshow of their lives!

Our Little Man

As most of our friends and family know, our little man Celtic passed away early Sunday morning. Although we are very thankful for the almost four weeks we had with him after his diagnosis early last month, we are still incredibly heartbroken. I thought it would be easier knowing ahead of time that we were going to lose him, but I guess no matter how much time we have with our pets, it never seems to be quite enough.

Maybe this loss was more difficult than I thought it would be because of all of Celtic's ups and downs during the last month. On the day that we canceled his surgery, we thought for sure he'd be gone within a couple of weeks. He was so weak and lethargic, and his tumor was still growing rapidly. A couple of days later we started him on a new anti-inflammatory called Piroxicam that was supposed to help with his joint pain. When Dr. Layton suggested it, she mentioned in passing that it also had some "cancer fighting properties." Since she didn't make a big deal of it we didn't think much of it either, but after just a couple of doses, it was obvious that Celtic's tumor had quit growing and was actually getting smaller. In less than two weeks, the tumor's decrease in size was almost as dramatic as the increase had been in the previous two weeks.

We were so thankful for the Piroxicam, since it clearly improved Celtic's mobility and his overall quality of life in his last month. He took a short walk almost every day, had a good appetite and generally seemed pretty much his happy little self. In fact, on the Friday before last, when I was upstairs taking some pictures of 3-Day equipment to send to my friend and 3-Day teammate Amber, the little stinker came right up the stairs behind me, which he was not supposed to do. The entire time I was trying to take pictures he was either trying to steal the socks and pillow or get inside the duffel bag. He was so cute and just as ornery as ever.





It's just so hard to believe that this was just 8 days before he died. I actually started to write an update about him after I took these pics, and now I'm really glad I never got around to finishing it. I probably would have blamed myself for jinxing things when he took a turn for the worse just a couple of days later. It was so strange, because on the Monday after I took these shots, I was at our regular vet with Fresco, and he was somewhat surprised to hear that Celtic was doing so well. Dr. Coles thought maybe we should give Dr. Layton a call to reconsider the surgery since the Piroxicam might have given us a window of opportunity. I called Dr. Layton's assistant later that day and left her a message about how well he was doing and how we wanted to talk to Dr. Layton and get her thoughts on rescheduling. It was almost like Celtic heard the conversation and decided to nix the idea, because within a couple hours his mood and health had totally changed. Out of nowhere, he was completely lethargic and could barely even get up. The next morning, he could only walk about 3 houses down the block and could barely make it back home--the previous day he had walked almost a half mile with no problems!

Although he was a little bit better the day after that, his health and mood were up and down all week. By Saturday he really seemed to have improved--so much so that Chad had actually decided to go to Salina to hunt turkeys on Sunday. Celtic had such a great day on Saturday. He walked farther than he had in several days (and wanted to keep going) and ate a hearty dinner. After dinner he was super spunky and followed Chad all over the house trying to get a bite of bagel. Then about 8 p.m. that night something changed--he became very weak and despondent. We initially thought he would feel better after a good night's sleep. It took us several hours to figure out that this was no ordinary lethargy, at which point we assumed his tumor had finally caused internal bleeding. We hoped he would just fall asleep and pass peacefully, but he barely rested all night long and was clearly very uncomfortable. We finally went to the emergency vet in Topeka at about 4:30 on Sunday morning, and the vet confirmed that there was nothing we could except put him to sleep. By this time, it was obvious that Celtic was in terrible pain. Dr. Carder, who was the vet who attended to Steeler when he died at Stone House back in 2006, thought that Celtic was suffering from the same condition that killed his brother--peritonitis. Dr. Carder guessed that his tumor had actually spread far beyond his armpit and had actually ruptured his gastrointestional tract somewhere. As difficult as it was to let him go, once we realized how much he was hurting, we wished we'd made the decision to go to Topeka hours earlier.

I know hindsight is always 20/20, but I could just kick myself that I didn't recognize Celtic's lethargy on Saturday night for what it was--pain. While he was groaning a little and breathing strangely, he wasn't panting at all, which is usually the tell-tale sign that a dog is hurting. While we knew he was uncomfortable, we thought maybe the internal bleeding was just causing him to be extremely weak and tired. It just didn't seem possible that he could go from being so spunky in the early evening to near death in such a short time, and it never occurred to us that his cancer could have spread so far so quickly. We were anticipating that when it spread, it would spread to the area of his heart/lungs first--not that it would attack farther down in his poor little body. It just breaks my heart that he had such a painful last few hours of his life and we weren't able to help him sooner.

Although Celtic's great day on Saturday fooled us somewhat, we're also very thankful that his last day on earth was a good one. We imagined that his decline would be more gradual and painful, but as it turned out, he got to enjoy life right down to the last day--just like his brother Steeler. We are comforted knowing that they are now running and playing together in heaven.

In Memory of Celtic Bird Luce
June 26, 1997-May 29, 2011

A Heavy Heart

I'm not even really sure where to start this post, because the news is very sad and my heart is very heavy. I don't want to be overdramatic at all, but our dogs are obviously a really big deal to us, and yesterday we made a really hard decision about our little man Celtic. We decided to cancel his surgery.

This decision might seem like a strange one to our friends who know we would do anything for our dogs, but Chad and I are thankfully very much in agreement on this. While we didn't come to the decision easily, I think we're at peace with it as much as we can be under the circumstances. Since his CT scan a week ago and the needle aspirates that preceded it, Celtic's overall health has declined significantly and his tumor has literally grown by the day.

We've certainly been worried about this rapid growth of late, but the noticeable size increase wasn't really so out of the ordinary. Often times when cancers are disturbed by a biopsy they tend to react by growing--Hope's first mast cell tumor did the same thing when it was aspirated back in 2007. Although the growth was concerning, we were still hopeful that yesterday morning's bloodwork would be better and today's surgery would be a go. While the anemia was a tiny bit improved, our regular vet Dr. Coles was alarmed by the tumor growth, Celtic's coloring and his overall malaise. He suggested we try and get back in to see Dr. Layton yesterday morning for another consult and possible early surgery, even though Dr. Layton usually only does emergency surgeries on Mondays.

We thankfully got in to see Dr. Layton right away, and as usual, she was her amazingly caring, compassionate and helpful self. She agreed that the tumor was significantly bigger than last week, and she expressed her concerns about his lethargy and immobility. The incredibly rapid growth confirmed her initial suspicion that the cancerous part of the tumor is a hemangiosarcoma, the extremely aggressive kind of cancer that killed Celtic's brother Steeler. Because the tumor had grown so much down his leg, she thought there was a very strong possibility that in order to remove it she would have to amputate his leg as well--or at least damage the nerves enough to make his leg useless. Chad and I both agreed that because of Celtic's age and significant problems with pain and weakness in his back legs, he wouldn't be able to walk on three legs. To us the amputation didn't seem like an acceptable outcome, and if Dr. Layton got started and realized that was her only option, they would just have to put Celtic to sleep by not letting him wake up from surgery. We couldn't bear the thought of his final memories being ones of fear and anxiety in a scary hospital.

There were other significant surgery risks that contributed to the decision, namely that Celtic might bleed to death due to the vascular involvement of the tumor, or that Dr. Layton would open him up only to find that surgical removal was just impossible because the tumor was so connected to muscles and other tissues. Even if the surgery went perfectly and Dr. Layton had been able to remove the bulk of the tumor and save the leg, we probably would have only been buying Celtic another 3-6 months before the remnants of the tumor took over and took his life. Since the odds of a perfect surgery were so slim, we didn't think it was a risk worth taking. We decided we would rather spend Celtic's last few weeks spoiling him rotten and showering him with all the love we can.

Obviously I regret that we didn't have Dr. Layton do the surgery last Wednesday, which she could have done. Since the surgery was risky even at that time, I really wanted to have a few more days to spend quality time with him in case something went wrong. Since my brother came home to Kansas on Sunday, I really wanted Eric to have a last visit with Celtic as well. Dr. Layton didn't think waiting six days would really matter, but of course she had no idea how aggressive his tumor would be. Knowing that we might have had him for a few more months instead of a few more weeks absolutely breaks my heart, but maybe not having to recover from surgery will mean less suffering for him in the long run. At least that's what I'm trying to tell myself.

Family Fiascos

Wow--what a week. I apologize for the delay in blogging, but the family drama in the past 7 days has just been off the charts. If you've been following my tweets or seen my Facebook statuses or talked to us at all lately then you probably know the details of what's going on, but let's just say that last Wednesday through Friday was downright crazy. One of our family members was involved in a sort of domestic conflict that was extremely stressful and emotionally draining. We're thankful that the end result is ultimately going to be an improvement, but things are going to be a little chaotic around here for a while as we work through lots of changes!

After a couple of calmer days over the weekend, our next emotional ordeal started on Monday. Actually, the story really started over four years ago when Celtic had an egg-sized lipoma removed from his armpit, and then it continued when we took him to Hope's surgeon Dr. Layton a year later to see if she could remove it again, since it had grown back even larger than before. She couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't grown back after a second surgery, and Hope's surgery was obviously more pressing, and Celtic's armpit tumor wasn't really bothering him, so we made the decision not to do surgery at all.

Over the next several years Celtic's tumor continued to grow, and although it had grown to the size of a baseball, it didn't seem to impede his mobility, so we didn't worry too much about it. We asked the vet if there was any worry that it could have changed into something other than a lipoma, and our vet didn't think that was a possibility. We just kind of ignored it until a few weeks ago, about the time that Hope had her lipoma removed and her teeth cleaned. It suddenly looked as though Celtic was limping a little on his tumor arm, and within another week we could see his front leg was actually bowed out a bit. We decided to make another appointment with Dr. Layton in KC to see if she would still be willing to "debulk" it, knowing that in another few years it would probably grow back.

So I took him to Dr. Layton on Monday, and while her staff was working on an estimate for his surgery, she decided to take a needle aspirate of the mass. Unfortunately, the samples she took were not fatty tissue like she expected. She only got blood, which told her that the tumor was something more than a lipoma, and was connected in a way that meant it was going to be a lot more difficult to remove. Celtic stayed at the hospital for x-rays, a CT scan and blood work, and unfortunately we didn't get very good news from all the tests. The surgeon and a consulting radiologist are pretty sure that Celtic's tumor is cancer. This was certainly not what we expected to hear. Somehow his benign fatty tumor grew a malignant tumor, but we couldn't tell because the fatty tumor was so big!

To add insult to injury, he is also anemic (which might be because of the tumor--Dr. Layton's not sure) and he has a urinary tract infection! The poor guy is falling apart at the seams and we didn't even know! He goes for a walk every day, has a good appetite and generally seems pretty happy, so we were just completely clueless that there was anything (besides old age and his recent back problem) bothering him!

So our first option is to do nothing until Celtic can no longer walk because of the size of the tumor, at which point we'd likely have to put him to sleep because his tumor will be even more difficult to remove and his overall health will be too bad for surgery. There's also a possibility that the tumor could eventually burst, which would also be a terrible end result. Unfortunately, because of the rapid rate that this tumor has been growing as of late, we're afraid that either of these things could happen within a month or so.

Option two is to do surgery fairly soon, which we've tentatively scheduled for next Tuesday. Unfortunately, this surgery doesn't come without some pretty major risks. Because the tumor is so connected to Celtic's vascular system and attached to so much other tissue, the surgery may be fairly lengthy and complicated, and Celtic might not survive being anesthetized for as long as it takes to complete. Because of the vascular involvement, too much bleeding during surgery might be a problem and he might need a transfusion. Finally, opening up his cancerous tumor could cause it's growth to accelerate, making his cancer and overall health worse after surgery and not better.

With all that said, we've decided that the surgery at least has a chance of giving him a few more quality months of life. Dr. Layton thinks it's his best bet, and since we think she's astounding and amazing, we trust that it's the best decision. At least we're praying that it is! We're praying that if surgery isn't the best thing for him, the door on that option will close after his blood work is done on Monday. If his anemia or infection is worse at that time, surgery might not be an option at all, so I guess that will be our sign that we should forgo the surgery and just let nature take its course. Of course we're hoping that the infection can be treated with a few days of antibiotics and that some supplements might help the anemia, so hopefully our little man will be as healthy as possible for his surgery next Tuesday! We would appreciate your prayers between now and then!

The Whites

Now that Celtic Watch 2011 has ended so happily, I can actually get back to blogging about our regular mundane life. Namely, I can blog about our laundry--in particular, the whites. Exciting, I know. This is what happens in our house when you sort the laundry on the closet floor but haven't had the chance to actually put said laundry into the washer.


The laundry becomes Hope's dog bed, despite the fact that there are three other dog beds within a 20 foot radius. This just in: Hope is weird.

There's one other thing that happens in our house when you leave the dirty whites unattended.

Celtic turns dirty socks into coveted toys, carrying them all over the house, hiding them from Fresco and Hope, and treating them like little stuffed animals. It's weird too, but so darn adorable. Clearly he's feeling way better.

Since I like to try and give my pups equal face time on the blog, I have to share an equally adorable picture of our baby Fresco, even though it has nothing to do with the laundry. This totally looks staged, I know, but the other day when we had all these extra blankets in the bedroom from my night on the floor with Celtic, I was using one on the bed and Fresco was laying next to me. When I got up and threw the blanket off myself, Fresco somehow ended up like this.


Seriously, could he be any cuter? He laid there wrapped up in the blanket until Chad pulled it off his face. He's such an agreeable little munchkin!

Wobbly Walking

I'm super excited to report that our little guy's recovery took a 180 degree turn today! As you can see from the picture, today Celtic actually began standing and walking on his own. Although the day started much the same as yesterday, with Celtic moping in bed until after noon, when I took him outside for his first potty break things began to change. With the help of our homemade support sling like this one, he walked all over the yard as we enjoyed the beautiful weather. I tried to get him to lay down in the sunshine with his brother for a while, but after just a few minutes he got up on his own and headed for the door. With sling assistance, he walked all the way to the door, up the ramp in the garage, into the kitchen to the water bowl, and across the bedroom to the dog bed. I parked him in his little bed and headed back to the kitchen to get dinner into the crock pot, and a couple of seconds later I realize that Celtic is standing right next to me! He'd gotten up on his own and walked all the way into the kitchen to beg for treats! Now that's the Celtic we know and love!

I tried to get him to lay down in the kitchen to no avail, so I carried Celtic back to our bed, thinking he would stay put this time. As I'm finishing up the dinner preparations, I see Celtic standing up and heading down the little steps up to our bed--all on his own! I ran to help him, but he made it to the bottom on his own without falling. He was absolutely determined to come search for food I might be dropping in the kitchen. I realized the only way I could keep him resting in bed the rest of the afternoon was by staying in bed with him!

I helped him outside again after dinner, and this time I let him roam the yard a little without his sling and he did just fine. He eventually laid down in the grass for a while and enjoyed the beautiful weather before I helped him back inside and into bed. When Chad got home from work and we both ended up in the kitchen, seconds later Celtic was down the steps and walking into the kitchen on his own. I think he was trying to show off his improved mobility!

We tried to keep him in bed most of the evening to rest, but even while resting he demonstrated other behaviors that are completely back to normal--namely his insistence on being petted all the time. He was a complete nuisance most of the evening with his pawing, nudging and flailing as he attempted to get attention. That's our boy.

Thanks again to everyone for the emails, phone calls, texts and comments to let us know you were thinking of him! We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers--which have definitely been answered!

Little Man

I was hoping that tonight I'd be able to post a terrific update on our little man, but unfortunately we've had kind of a one step forward, one step back kind of day. I guess we can be thankful it wasn't two steps back though! In the middle of the night we were pleasantly surprised (albeit a little big startled) to find that Celtic had gotten up on his own and taken several steps toward the door under his own power. That was huge progress from the day before, for sure. Unfortunately, when we got up a few hours later he refused to eat breakfast and was super lethargic, which was a huge bummer. All day long he laid in bed and didn't show much interest in anything. He seemed super depressed and had lots of episodes of panting, so I'm worried that his pain isn't really under control. He looked darn cute in his little pile of blankets with the stuffed doggie Chad shoved into his arms, but he was definitely pretty bummed out, as were we.

With that said, as the day went on, he gained a little more energy and life, and even walked a few more steps one other time this evening before his wobbly little back legs gave out. He ate his dinner with no problems, and his spunky personality shined through a little when he growled at his brother, protecting his new little dog toy that he pretended not to like. Hopefully tomorrow that spunkiness will be back in full force and the use of his legs will continue to improve as well!

Thanks to all of our wonderful friends and family members for all the emails and phone calls the last couple of days to check on us. We appreciate the love, positive thoughts and prayers so much!

Sleepless Night

On Saturday night I was editing pictures from our weekend trip to St. Louis, with every intention of sharing them in a blog post on Sunday. Sunday, however, had other plans for us. Our little old man Celtic had seemed slightly more stiff than normal the previous evening, but Sunday morning he woke up at his normal early hour and ate breakfast and went outside. He came back in and went back to bed with us for another hour or so before we got up to go to church, which was also completely normal. When we got home from church, however, it was clear that something was wrong. He was still laying on the bed, but Chad noticed that the dog treat I'd given him before we left was still sitting next to him uneaten. For Celtic not to eat is super unusual and super worrisome.

Chad tried to get him to get up, but Celtic refused. Even when Chad picked him up off the bed and stood him on the floor, Celtic wouldn't go anywhere. He didn't cry or whimper, but he laid back down right where he was. A few minutes later though, he got up and moved himself a few feet to the dog bed, so we started thinking that Celtic might just be hamming it up for the attention, which he has definitely been known to do in his life.

Thinking he might be faking, we tried to coax him up again to no avail, so Chad carried him outside to potty. He took a few steps and lifted his leg, but then turned right around so Chad could carry him back in to his dog bed. He still refused water and even leftover hash browns from our brunch, so we started contemplating a trip to the emergency vet, because Celtic is certainly not that good of an actor. We decided to wait a few more hours to see if he would improve on his own first, so I went off to a baby shower and Chad took off for the driving range.

When Chad arrived home from golfing, he tried to get Celtic up to potty again, but this time Celtic couldn't even stand. Since he was clearly getting worse, Chad texted and called me to come home, but unfortunately my ringer was off during the shower. When he didn't hear back from me in 20 minutes, he hopped in the car and drove over to the shower to get me. I was obviously a little alarmed to see him, so needless to say I gave my friend Karen a quick hug, said thanks to the hostess and ran out the door! We zoomed home, got Celtic in the car and were on our way to Stone House Animal Hospital in Topeka.

Poor Celtic was alarmingly lethargic and unresponsive during the drive, and even after we arrived he didn't show any interest in any of the people and pets in the waiting room. Chad carried him into the exam room and laid him on the table and he didn't display the tiniest bit of resistance or curiosity about his surroundings. We were happy to have Dr. Carder, the vet who fought so hard to save Celtic's brother Steeler 4 1/2 years ago, come in to give Celtic an exam. He didn't seem to think there was actually any true paralysis, since Celtic seemed to react to touches of his feet and tail, but touches of Celtic's spine seemed to cause a lot of pain. His hope was that it was some sort of spinal injury that would heal with some steroids and lots of rest. He said it was also possible that Celtic had something more serious going on, such as a tumor on his spinal cord, but there's no way to tell without a CAT scan, which could only be done at K-State's Veterinary Hospital. His recommendation was to wait a day to see if the steroids started working, and then decide whether to take him to K-State if he doesn't improve.

So Dr. Carder gave Celtic a shot of steroids, a shot of painkillers, and a third shot of a muscle relaxer, just to sedate him enough to drain his bladder, so that he could rest his back the rest of the night without getting up again to potty. Once Celtic was pretty much out of it, they wheeled him back to the treatment room, which happened to be the same room where we watched Steeler die that fateful night in 2006. As if the day hadn't been emotional enough, I about lost it when I walked into that room. I turned right around and went back to the exam room, telling myself that Celtic wouldn't know I was missing since he wasn't awake anyway.

After his bladder was done draining, the vet tech supplied me with Celtic's oral steroids and I paid our bill while Chad pulled the car around back so our little man could be loaded into it. When I finally got out to the car after standing in line (it was super busy Sunday afternoon in the emergency clinic), Celtic was loaded in, but he wasn't doing well. He was only taking about one labored breath every ten seconds or so, and Chad and I weren't at all comfortable with driving him home that way. I went back in and got the vet tech, who then went and got the vet, who came out to check on Celtic in the car. Dr. Carder agreed that his labored breathing was very abnormal and thought that Celtic had just become so relaxed with the sedative he was forgetting to breath. His heartbeat was strong and his circulation was okay, but the doctor went and grabbed yet another shot to reverse the sedative. After about 5 minutes of us and the vet watching his breathing carefully, Celtic finally woke up and started breathing regularly again, so Chad and I started breathing regularly too!

After we got home and put Celtic to bed, our worries still weren't over. We still couldn't get him to eat, move, respond, drink water or even lift his head. He just laid there staring into space, refusing to sleep and also refusing to acknowledge us. We petted and rubbed and loved on him all evening, but by bedtime things had just gotten worse. He had started panting, which generally indicates a dog is in pain, and the shallow pants soon turned into labored breathing. He was so listless and lifeless, Chad and I tried to prepare ourselves for the worst, since we weren't even sure he was going to make it through the night. I made myself a bed on the floor next to him, where I slept fitfully, waking up every few minutes to check and see if he was still breathing. Needless to say, it was a bit of a sleepless night.

Crazily enough, at about 3 a.m. I opened my eyes to see Celtic staring at me, with his head raised a little and his eyes bright. He acted like he wanted to get up, so I offered him some water and was thrilled that he drank heartily! After a few drinks he calmed back down into his bed and relaxed, staring off into space again.

When I woke up at 6:30 Celtic was awake, alert, responsive and hungry. He ate his breakfast in bed and drank more water before Chad carried him out to potty, and although he still couldn't really stand on his own, he kind of moved his legs like he was walking when Chad lifted his tummy with a towel. He's spent most of his day in bed and still isn't walking on his own, but each time he's gone outside today he's moved those little legs more and more. He's eating well and totally interested in any food item anywhere in the house, and his stubborn and determined personality is definitely shining through again. Yesterday we were worried we'd lost our little man, but today we are definitely more hopeful. We know his troubles aren't over yet, but we're thankful that today was better than yesterday and praying that tomorrow will be better than today. We know we can't keep Celtic with us forever, but it just seems too soon to lose him considering he was sprinting around in the snow just barely over a month ago!

Happy Birthday, Little Man

Once again it's entirely too late for blogging, but I just have to give a quick shout out to our little guy Celtic, who is celebrating his 13th birthday today. I can't believe our firstborn is already a teenager, which is somewhere around 90 years old in dog years!

Celtic is definitely showing his age these days, although he is getting around better since we've started shortening our walks but making them more frequent, and since he's using the steps much less frequently thanks to his wheelchair ramp. Most of the time, he seems to feel pretty good and seems pretty free of major discomfort. Although a few weeks ago he had an anal gland that got clogged, so we had to rush him to the vet and have it lanced, which wasn't a pleasant experience for anyone--especially not for him. He wasn't super thrilled about the makeshift diaper we put on him after getting home either, but I have to say he looked darn cute in it.


Celtic is becoming more environmentally conscience in his old age, so lately we've been collecting his brushed off undercoat in a box so that we can ship it to an organization called Matter of Trust, which has organized volunteers to make hair booms to help soak up the oil spill in the gulf. Celtic is pretty proud of his donated hair, as you can see.


In all seriousness though, we couldn't be more thankful for this little guy and for the 13 wonderful years he's been bringing us joy. Here are just a couple of pictures from a quick photo session we had this afternoon in honor of his important day. We love you, little guy!

Deluxe Doggy Door

This post had to be put in the long story category because it's taken me so long to finish! I only had time for about 15 minutes of blogging a couple of nights last week, and that just wasn't enough time for me to get this one cranked out. I have been so excited to share this though, so no matter how long it takes me, I'm going to finish it this evening!

Last Sunday morning, Chad skipped church to work on a much needed project at our house with our friend Grant. We'd been talking about this particular home improvement task since before we even moved in, actually. In all seriousness, one of the reasons we knew this house was perfect for us was because it was completely conducive to this particular project. You see, we knew that within a few years Celtic wouldn't be able to make it up and down stairs. We insisted (much to our real estate agent's chagrin) on buying a home that had the master bedroom on the main level specifically for this reason. Although we couldn't find one that also exited into the backyard at ground level, this house did at least have a garage that was on ground level, so we knew we could make it work for our four-legged munchkin.

Sadly, Celtic's been having more and more mobility problems lately and we were starting to worry that we were shortening his quality years by making him use the deck stairs into the backyard. We carried him up and down on occasion, but he hates being carried so much, his squirming makes it very difficult. We'd also been taking him out front several times a day instead, and while he liked the special attention, he also missed being in the backyard with his siblings. Plus, it wasn't super convenient to be out front with him while Hope was barking at the back door to come inside. We knew the time had come to take on Operation Deluxe Doggy Door.

Since Grant is an amazing designer/builder/engineer, we actually had him over a couple of weeks ago to help us think through the project. Thanks to his expertise, he and Chad were able to actually finish the platform and the "wheelchair ramp" into our garage while I was at church last week. A couple of hours later, they'd cut a hole in the back wall of the garage into the backyard and put in the door. Later in the evening, Chad insulated the door frame and then built a gate up at the top of the platform. The gate doesn't make much sense now, but we've ordered some netting that will actually block the dogs off from the rest of the garage once their doggy door (on the person door) is installed. That way, they won't be able to run through the doggy door out the front of the garage if they hear the garage door open when they're outside, or wander around the garage getting into things they shouldn't once the come inside.

So after the door was installed on Sunday, we recorded their first trip outside Monday night using their new ramp and door. I'm sure this will be interesting to no one except me, but I just thought their reactions were so funny and so typical of each of them.



First, how funny are they? Fresco's clearly afraid to go out a strange door into the dark, Celtic is super happy to be able to walk outside unassisted and knows exactly what to do, and then Hope has to be pushed and prodded to do anything outside of her normal routine. Their personalities are so evident in their behaviors. Second, how awesome are their new ramp and gate and door? Clearly there's still a lot to do for the project to be complete (the net, the light outside, the actual doggy door), but already we all love the new setup! Celtic isn't limping nearly as much as he was, and you just tell that he's so happy and feels so empowered by his new independence! The next morning when I let them out for just the second time, I just left the new door cracked and then left the laundry room door (into the garage) cracked as well. I went about my business getting dressed so I could take them for a quick walk, and a few minutes later Celtic happily let himself back into the house! Fresco figured it out really quickly too. Hope took several days to get the hang of it (her habit of running to the back door was a hard one for her to break), but by Thursday she was also going in and out of the back door exclusively. Once the doggy door goes in we won't even have to go back into the garage and shut the door!

We thought we'd have to put a gate on the deck to keep Celtic for going up that way, but he loves letting himself in and out so much I don't think we'll even have to do that. We can still let him out to bask in the sun on the deck when it's nice outside after he's gone out and in the back. The whole setup has worked even better than we ever though it would, and it turned out that it wasn't even that difficult or time consuming to do. A special thanks to our friend Grant for making the job go so smoothly!

Celtic's Pet Peeve

Since Hope has gotten so much face time on the blog lately (and by the way, we still haven't gotten the pathology results from her surgery, but she's doing really well), I thought tonight I would share a funny story about our little old man Celtic. I should start this story by explaining that in the last few years, Celtic has developed an incredibly strong aversion to certain beeping noises. Oddly though, it's not all beeping noises--just certain frequencies make him lose his mind. For example, the microwave: okay; the George Foreman grill: not okay. The computer or phone: perfectly fine; a digital kitchen timer that we bought about a year ago: complete hysteria. Our Garmin Forerunner or watch: no response; the smoke detector when the battery goes out: massive panic. You get the picture.

So over the weekend Chad was watching some US Open tennis, and I was sitting in our bedroom doing something or other on the computer. We don't watch much tennis, so we were a little taken aback at the annoying scream/grunts employed by several of the players--especially Venus. Maybe you get used to it after a while, but for us it was almost unwatchable.

Anyway, as I was sitting there on the bench in our bedroom, Celtic came up and started clawing the crap out of my leg nervously, and I had no earthly idea why. I kind of ignored him, sent him up to bed to snuggle with Chad, and then walked into the kitchen. A minute later, Celtic came into the room and climbed up my leg, trembling all over. It was then that I realized what was making him crazy: Venus Williams. The frequency and cadence of her screaming/grunting ground strokes were apparently extremely similar to the other appliances in our home that Celtic has determined are completely evil. I asked Chad to mute the TV, and Celtic relaxed immediately. Apparently, Venus was unwatchable to him as well!

As I was telling this story to my friend LaRisa at work this morning, I realized that screaming tennis players reminded me of the old SNL sketch where Melanie Hutsell played Monica Seles in "At Home with Monica." Monica would just be doing everyday things like opening the fridge or passing the butter, but she would let out one of her trademark yells each time she did even the most mundane task. It was flipping hilarious. I totally wanted to find one of those sketches online somewhere so I could post it here, but a few searches turned up nothing. Hopefully Chad and I aren't the only ones who remember this sketch, and the rest of you can recall the hilarity and laugh right along with me in your mind! :)

Furmination

A couple of weeks ago Celtic started shedding clumps of his undercoat, and I knew he needed to be furminated, but seriously--this is ridiculous.




He looks happy to have all that extra hair gone!!

Leo

Last week we said goodbye to someone very dear to us. Our wonderful canine friend Leo has gone to the rainbow bridge, and we will miss her terribly.

Leo was the 15 1/2 year old dog of our good friends Heather, Grant and Quillen--the friends who lost their dog Homer to an unusual illness just a few months ago. Leo's death was certainly more expected--planned, actually--because her health had been failing for many months. She was clearly in a lot of pain and her quality of life was not good, so her loving family made the difficult decision to let her go peacefully and painlessly. I know they're going to miss her tremendously as well, but her passing is a little easier because they know they gave her so many years of love and a very full, fun life.

I'll never forget the first time I spent an evening at Heather and Grant's house and met Leo for the first time. Before Leo came inside, I asked Heather what kind of dog she was. Heather's very matter-of-fact response? Brown. When they adopted her from the shelter a few years before as a puppy, they thought she was a chow mix because of her furry little mane. She turned out to be a very petite and agile little girl that looked more like a Chihuahua than a Chow, but they never really labeled her as any breed--they just called her a brown dog. She was completely unique and very special.

Just a couple of years after we met Leo, Chad and I adopted Steeler and Celtic, and Leo was by far their best friend during puppyhood. We spent lots of time together at Potter Lake (which was the unofficial dog park in town) watching Leo run circles around all the other dogs. We spent many evenings camping out with Leo's family in the woods near their home (before their home was built) where Leo and the boys explored the woods and fields for hours on end. We spent countless hours helping our friends build their current home while the dogs romped and played and chased around the building site, where Leo demonstrated her amazing agility by climbing ladders to the second floor and walked around on the scaffolding. She was very talented, and our boys loved her. When she came to our house to visit, this is the greeting she received from Steeler and Celtic. They would run around the house for 10-15 minutes with one boy glued to either side of their sweet little girlfriend.

Since we knew Leo would be leaving us late last week, we went out to Heather and Grant's on Wednesday to say our goodbyes. Leo trotted out happily yet slowly as we pulled up to their house, just like she did every time we came out for a visit. She greeted us with gentle kisses and seemed very happy to see her old friend Celtic, who she hadn't seen in the 3 1/2 years since we adopted Hope. We showered her with affection and reminisced about her younger days, and of course I took lots of pictures. Not all of them are great, but the series of her and Celtic together is just so touching to me. They were just such good friends, and I'm so glad they got to see each other one last time.


Goodbye, sweet Leo. You were such a wonderful dog. You will be missed.

Happy Birthday, Dear Celtic

Our eldest dog turns 11 years old today. I won't go into great detail about him, because I think it's obvious by the number of times that I've mentioned him on my blog (over 40) that he's an incredibly important part of our family. We love this little guy so darn much!

Last year, Celtic's birthday was bittersweet because it was the first birthday we celebrated without his brother (his actual littermate) Steeler. While I think Steeler's untimely death will always make Celtic's birthday a little difficult, this year I'm also feeling a little saddened because our sweet little Beaglish boy has slowed down so much in the last 6 months or so. While he seems pretty healthy overall, he's apparently developing arthritis in his hips, as he's having some difficulty doing stairs and jumping onto the bed and couch. Chad made him an awesome little set of steps to get on and off the bed a few months ago, but sometimes he's even reluctant to use those. Poor little guy--it seems like he's aging so quickly!

With that said, he has moments where he acts like he's 5 again. He's not nearly as fast as he used to be, but no matter how stiff and sore he is, he just can't resist a good game of chase in the backyard. On Monday evening, as he was thoroughly enjoying some rambunctious playtime with his siblings, I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures. In the last two in particular, Celtic looks like he's really flying!!








We hope he's romping around the backyard like this for many years to come! :)


Happy Birthday, Little Man!!

A Cheer for the Champion Celtics!

Before I continue on with the story of our vacation, I need to take another quick detour to give a big shout out to the Boston Celtics!!! Woo hoo for the NBA CHAMPIONS!!!

As many of you may know, my hubby has always been a huge fan of the Celtics. Chad started loving Larry Bird in the early 80s and that love just never went away. Anyone who has known Chad for any amount of time knows this. In junior high and high school Chad wore out this goofy t-shirt with Larry Bird's picture on the front. You could spot Chad playing basketball on a playground from a mile away because of that t-shirt!

As you can imagine, Chad hasn't been too thrilled with the Celtics' seasons for...well...about the last 15 years. Regardless, Chad has continued to support them, watch them and cheer for them for all that time. The most convincing evidence of his unwavering loyalty is, of course, our almost 11 year old dog. When the Celtics were still horrible, we named our little man Celtic Bird Luce. As you can imagine, Celtic is pretty excited that the Celtics won as well! ;) We're very thankful that both Celtic and our late furry son Steeler were each able to see their team win it all during their lifetime!

In honor of Boston's wonderful season and awesome victory last night, this evening Chad put on the new shirt he bought while we were in San Francisco.


After many, many years, Chad can be proud to be a Celtic's fan once again!

Pearly Whites

Today Hope and Celtic got their teeth cleaned. A teeth cleaning is always a big ordeal for dogs since they don't submit willingly to having a sharp object scraped around their gums. Since they have to be put under general anesthesia, it's hard on their little bodies (not to mention expensive)-- especially for old guys like Celtic.

Unfortunately, even though the dogs had their teeth cleaned just over a year ago, they were both due for another cleaning already. Celtic's teeth just tend to form plaque really quickly, while Hope has lots of damaged teeth (we guess from lack of dental care and good nutrition) from the first 5+ years of her life, before she came to live with us. I can't imagine that her neglectful owners actually gave her any chew toys, and since she's an aggressive chewer who loves rawhides, cow hooves, tennis balls, rope toys, acorns and anything else she can chew on, I picture her chewing on any rocks within reach while chained up in their yard.

Anyway, today poor little Hope had to have one of her damaged teeth pulled, as the root was exposed and was starting to get infected. She came home with stitches in her mouth and loopy from the anesthetic, but thankfully she doesn't feel too bad because she's doped up on painkillers. She's just been staggering around like a drunk most of the evening, acting slightly weirder than her normally weird self. Here are a few funny pictures from this evening for a good laugh.

Huh? What are you saying to me?

My mouth ith a littthle numth.

I can't seem to keep my eyes open.

Oh hello, Mr. Wall. How are you today?

Celtic didn't have anything so exciting as an extraction today, but his dental visit was still a little rough on him. He has been so darn lethargic this evening, I think he's having a really hard time shaking off the anesthetic. He wasn't even interested in watching us eat our dinner, so I know he must be feeling really crummy! His pictures aren't funny--just a little sad!

I'm glad to be home so I can get some sleep!

I'm just going to crash out here before I even get to my bed!

Quit bothering me with that camera, Mom. I'm tired and cranky.

Just for good measure, I have to include Mr. Sad Eyes. Don't let him fool you--he's really a very happy dog. He's just not very good at smiling for pictures!

Hope's New Clothes

If you haven't been watching the weather, it's been unusually snowy here in Lawrence this December. My boss told me the other day that this is very close to being the the snowiest December in Lawrence ever. Since I love the snow, I don't mind this weather trend one bit. Celtic happens to love the snow as well. He'll go outside no matter how much snow is on the ground, and he loves to romp and play in the drifts. He'll stick his entire head under the snow to sniff around. After being outside in the cold weather, he'll come flying back into the house, running around like a crazy dog, acting like a puppy again. No matter how cold it is, he loves to go for walks, and if there's snow on the ground he will pull extra hard on the leash, like he's a husky practicing for his sled team. I guess he just finds the snow invigorating.

His sister, on the other hand, absolutely hates the cold weather. If it's the least bit chilly, she wants no part of being outside longer than absolutely necessary. When it's downright cold, we sometimes have to force her to go outside at all, and once she gets out there she sprints out to the yard, does her business, and sprints back to the door. Her weather "wimpiness" has made it difficult to take her on walks as of late, since during our outings she often pulls towards home before anyone else is ready to go that way!

In Hope's defense, she does have really short hair and is fairly lean, so there's not a lot on her body that can keep her warm. Since she seemed so miserable, Chad and I started shopping for a coat for her, but we didn't find very many dog coats available for a 55 pound dog. Strangely enough, we finally found a cute pink puffy coat in her size at Old Navy, of all places. We bought her a large, which looked like it was the right size for her weight, but when we got it home it was absolutely huge! We put it aside to take back at a later date, but I couldn't help but think that I needed to find something for her to wear in the meantime. I found an old sweatshirt of mine, and modified it slightly so that Hope could wear it. Needless to say, she wasn't very happy about it, although I thought she looked adorable.

Having never worn clothes before, she was pretty freaked out by the whole thing. She kept following me around the house, leaning up against my leg or making me trip over her. Celtic became obsessed with her (I guess he thought she looked pretty cute) and she was miserable, so I thought I'd make her feel better by putting a coat on Celtic too. He's had one for years, but since he doesn't mind the cold and despises the coat, we never make it him wear it. My plan worked, and as soon as Celtic's coat was on he quit obsessing over Hope and instead started feeling sorry for himself.


Hope wasn't quite as freaked out by her coat after seeing that Celtic had one too, so we took off on our walk (although we took Celtic's coat back off just before we walked out the door), and Hope got several compliments from the neighbors. She looked pretty adorable, although you could tell she wasn't entirely comfortable in her new clothes. She only had to wear it a couple of times before the weather warmed up a little and she could go on walks naked again.

So on my next trip out to the Old Navy area, I stopped by the store to exchange the gigantic coat we'd purchased there. They didn't have any mediums in pink (which is probably fine since Hope isn't really a girly-girl anyway), so I snatched up their last medium, which was white. A couple of nights ago when the temperature dropped back down into the teens, Hope got to try out her new coat for the first time. I think she looks pretty cute! :)


Of course, you can tell Hope is still pretty uncomfortable with the whole clothing thing, but how could she not grow to love this adorable puffy coat with all the cute little patches and everything? When we were out on our walk, she was still acting a little weird and was practically glued to my leg, but as soon as she was distracted by another dog or a squirrel something, she'd forget she was freaked out about her coat and start walking completely normally. Clearly it was a psychological impairment and the coat wasn't actually physically restrictive. Hopefully, our dear little girl will grow to appreciate the extra warmth on our outings into the freezing Kansas temperatures!

Bittersweet Birthday

I can't even believe it, but today is the 10th birthday of our dear little boy Celtic Bird Luce. The little man and his 9 brothers and sisters were born 10 years ago today, to a little Beagle named Irene, in a beautiful home outside Vinland, Kansas. His father was originally thought to be the tiny Cocker Spaniel who also lived at his birthplace, but after a few months it was clear that he and his brother Steeler were not Cocker mixes. Based on their size and the appearance of one of their brothers, we guessed that Irene was fooling around with some sort of German Shepherd mix. :)

Since Chad and I were both gone for the evening, we didn't get to do anything very special for Celtic's birthday, but at lunch I gave him a couple of tiny bites of some awesome BBQ pork ribs that our neighbors brought us last night. That special treat will have to suffice until we can go out and get him a real present!

Celtic is one of the most loving, nurturing and sensitive little dogs you'll ever meet, and we are very thankful that he's part of our family. We're also so thankful for his good health, and yet we can't help but be somewhat saddened today as Celtic celebrates his birthday without his sweet brother Steeler. We all miss Steeler very much and still feel the pain of his untimely death last September. We hope that he's having a wonderful birthday celebration with all of his doggie friends in heaven.

Day of Beauty

Today was a very exciting day at the Luce household (uh, that's just a little joke). The first order of business after church and lunch was shaving Chad's head. He needed a haircut terribly, and he'd been wanting to get another buzz cut like he'd done last year around this time, so we finally got out the clippers and mowed it down. I should have taken before and after pictures, but I didn't remember to go grab the camera until we'd already gotten started! I thought this reverse mohawk was a good look for Chad.

Actually, I wasn't that excited about cutting Chad's hair super short again, but I think I must be more used to it this year, because I don't think the final product looks half bad!


Hope and Celtic went through through a little beautification today as well, as they endured their first bath of the summer. This is always a huge ordeal at our house since we don't have dogs who enjoy the water, but we managed to get everyone relatively clean. Celtic is such a hairy little guy his coat takes forever to dry, so I thought I'd take a couple of quick shots of our goofy looking wet dog.



















Now that he's dry, he looks nice and fluffy, but it doesn't seem to have slowed down his summer shedding any!