Me as a pup!
I'm Chillie's brother. I'm so happy Mom got me a
sister. The birds are okay. I like all the goodies
they give me. But Chillie's more fun. Although she
can be a bit pesky at times.
See what I mean!
Sheesh!!!
Here I am resting.
Chillie keeps me company while mom is at work. We play tug o war and run after each other and roll around. We share our big bones but I won't share my pig's ears. They're just too yummy.
January 13, 1999. Chillie had her first birthday
today. We both got those special treats Mom only
gives us on special occasions.
We also got a new shank bone. Chillie got a Booda duck tug. We are having a ball with it. Chillie didn't stop playing with it until she was so tired she couldn't keep her eyes opened any longer. She sure has a lot of energy.
February 10, 1999. Boy!!! Did we get a scare today. Mom put the glass electric coffee maker with the plastic lid on the stove to heat up water for her coffee and forgot about it.
She was online and I kept jumping on my hind legs and tapping her leg. Chillie was pawing her back and hand, but she thought we just wanted to play.
Finally she smelled the plastic melting. Wow!!! We never saw her move so fast. She Opened all the windows, put the hepa filter on high, put the fan in the birds room on high hitting the ceiling and grabbed the other filter and put it on high in the kitchen and put the ionizer on.
It hadn't burned to a flame yet, but there was a haze. Chillie was shaking real bad. We thought she was cold, but when it warmed up she was still shaking and when Mom was cleaning in the kitchen she was in her cage staring out. We realised she was upset and
reassured her the birds were alright.
Thank You Lord for watching out for them. Chillie really loves those birds. Mom says she thinks she knows exactly what this site is about and she was well aware of what could have happened. I think she is right.
I'm not into the webtv thing. I just relax while Mom is on it. Chillie is really into it and supervises it all until she has to take a nap.
Finally! The Latest on TeflonŽ!:-)
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More Information here!
TeflonŽ Story here!
Please for your pet birds safety don't use Cooking
Bags as they give off fumes that affect birds similar to TeflonŽ (PTFE) poisoning.
Links to other sites on the Web
Birdcrazy:Lovebirds
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Mar Vista Animal Medical Center
Howard Voren Articles
Parrot People Page
"MY"Chihuahuas
A family member of the people I worked for came in with Yoda saying they couldn't get him to eat or take a bottle. She asked if I would take him for a few weeks because she was afraid he would get sick. I said yes.:)
Yoda was about 5 weeks old and fit in the palm of my hand. I stuck him in my smock pocket until we got home. He ate like a champ. lol I put him in a 10 gallon fish tank. His bed on one end, with food and water dish near it and a small pan with paper on the other end. This is how I pan trained him.
I had him for 3 months and heard nothing from Dana. Every one that saw him asked "What's his name, Yoda? I never saw that episode from star wars so wasn't sure what they meant. My friend Debi said he looks like Yoda and explained about the ears. Years later I did see that Yoda and I don't think Yoda looks like him at all. hehehe
I finally decided he should see the Vet for his shots. It was about time for the antibodies he recieved from his Mother's milk to expire. When we went to our first appointment, the receptionist asked "What's his name, Yoda? lol So I said I guess it might as well be. hehehe I didn't want to name him as Dana was supposed to take him home and she didn't give me a name.
So that's how Yoda got his name. Dana finally called and now I was attached. She said she had two more puppies from the same breeder (another accidental breeding), but they were pug-pekingese-pomeranian mixes. Same father as Yoda, different mother. That bothered me a lot that the breeder hadn't neutered them an let this unplanned breeding go on. Anyway; Yoda got to stay with us.:)
I had Ebony my 65 lb. black Standard Poodle at the time. She would play so gentle with Yoda, even letting him win at tug-o-war.:) I mainly trained Yoda in the fish tank because Ebony would go beserk during thunder storms or if she heard fireworks or even someone hammering nearby if I wasn't home. I could put the tank on the counter and but up obstacles. I had to do this with my baby birds also.
When it came time to let him have the run of the house, I had to keep him in the kitchen with 4 foot of obstacles. Ebony wouldn't hurt Yoda intentionally though.
She ripped four doors off the walls, tore up a rug, chewed the wires from my TV, wires and hoses from my washer and the dryer and even chewed up a solid door to give you an idea why Yoda and the babies had to be barricaded when I wasn't home from spring to fall. All this from a dog that did no damage as a puppy! Her Mother was affraid of fireworks and the breeder had an emergency with her husband at the hospital. While gone there were many fireworks next door and the dog about went beserk. So I guess that's why Ebony was like that. It's a wonder Yoda has no fear of loud noises.
When Yoda matured he was free with Ebony all the time. They played and slept together. Yoda was very playful and friendly with everyone. Georgette used to love to toss him a goodie and watch him run for it. hehehe Some of our more rambunctious times are on Georgette's tapes. I love how the tapes have that interaction. Me playing with Yoda with Georgette whooping it up like a cheerlady. lol
May 31 1990 Memorial day Ebony was diagnosed with Lymphosarcoma.:( She was given six weeks to six months. I believe she never fully recovered from the over prescribed meds that caused Toxic Hepatitus two years before. We had to start aggressively to get control. I weaned her from the meds to wholistics with the aid of a wholistic Vet and we had her almost another year and a half. I had to put her down October 12 1991 Columbus Day.:(
I brought her home as I feel it's important to let their siblings say goodbye. The crematory was called and as I waited I brought Yoda downstairs to see her. He sniffed her and then ran up the stairs. He had never climbed the stairs. I felt bad but I also felt at least he knew.
Our Beloved Ebony:)
4 17 1981 - 10 12 1991
For months I would catch Yoda sitting at the top of the stairs, looking down with tears running down.:( Chihuahuas do cry tears. Did you know that? He mostly looks Chihuahua so I wasn't surprised.
Yoda changed some after Ebony's crossing. He was not as confident and even would pee submissively at times. I handled the peeing by having him stand up on his legs to greet me rather than I stooping over him. He still played but there were some quiet times when I knew he missed his friend.
Four years later I adopted ChaCha a 16 year old long haired chihuahua that was almost deaf and blind. She had too much compitition with big dogs at the rescue, so I said I would take her so she could live out what time she had peacefully. I wasn't worried about her with the birds as she slept mostly and I was watchful when she did go into the birds room. More for her protection actually. lol
Yoda gained his confidence back and was much happier, even though ChaCha didn't play or anything. We had ChaCha for a year and a half. Her last year she became known as the diaper dog. lol Well you can guess why.:) She developed heart failure and I came home to her stiff.:( I hope I never have to find another of my animals that way again. She had just started meds for her new condition. She was old though so it probably was just a coincidence.
So now Yoda was alone again and I would catch him staring at the green snakes for entertainment. They didn't do a whole lot, so I knew I had to get him a friend. I wanted to get one from a shelter or a rescue but wasn't too successful as I had to get a puppy so I could train it to live with the birds safely as they are out too much.
One Morning after a new batch of puppies arrived on my day off, I looked in the window and I spied Chillie. I said that's her! My boss said "what"? I said: "ever look at an animal and just know they are the one"? That chihuahua is mine. :) I left her there for 10 days as she was too shy and I wanted her to get to know people and other puppies to give her more confidence. It helped a lot.:)
Yoda at first was affraid of this bundle of energy suddenly after him. hehehe But within hours the two were buddy buddy.:) Chillie tortured poor Yoda, but he loved it all.:)
When Yoda was 10 years old he was diagnosed with Glaucoma and has been on meds since. One of his lenses is detached. He has a cateract and the Vet said we could wait to remove the lense and do the cateract surgery together when the cateract matured. Well it hasn't and now being he will be 14 in September, I don't want to put him through that unless we absolutely have to.
He is doing well with the meds although they make him sleep more and he doesn't feel like playing all the time. He's become sort of a couch potatoe. He doesn't see well anymore and may be starting to lose his hearing. He's in good health otherwise. The graphic above reminds me of him, because that's just how he tilts his head and wags his tail.:)
I never had little dogs and never thought I would have one. I like big dogs, big poodles especially.:) But Yoda introduced me to small dogs and really it's a pleasure to have them pan trained when you work and not have to worry if you get stuck overtime etc.. I've come to love the Chihuahua and Chi-mixes. They are sweet, loving, fun dogs.:) They do need training though just as any dog. What may be cute in that little puppy will not be so cute as they mature. Yoda's only fault was he yapped at company all the time after Ebony was gone. He has toned down a whole lot since he is older. He isn't the smartest dog I've had, but I love him just the same.:)
6-30-2006 We lost our beloved Yoda today.:( Yoda had been totally blind since 12. He had no problems getting around; even jumping up on the bed and using his pan. I noticed he did better without the pills after he went blind and the Vet said it was okay to stop them. He still got the drops though. He was much more lively and back to playing with Chillie some. She had to learn to be more careful around Yoda because of his blindness. He seemed to be more handsome with age.
At his 12th year Vet visit it was discovered that Yoda no longer had glaucoma which means he probably never did. We think the pressure was up due to the detached lense and now that eye also had a cateract the lense was staying back relieving the pressure. He was taken off the drops. I know he didn't miss that. lol
I always scale my dogs teeth myself. I trained them for this as puppies as I do not like having them put under if I can avoid it. Well when I went to do his teeth at 15 he wouldn't let me touch his mouth. So off to the Vet and when I opened his mouth for the Vet to look in the Vet said his two back molars were abcessed. So we did blood work and he was put under with a very safe anesthesia to take care of his teeth. I stayed in the parking lot in case anything bad happened but he came through fine.:)
A few months later Yoda was unable to jump on the bed for a few days and the Vet said it was because his patellas are now totally luxated. I put him on the bed because he was trying to get up but couldn't. He didn't wait for me to take him off and hurt his front leg a little when he jumped off so he could no longer sleep there.:( It was sad but safer for him. He slept in his crate with orthopedic bed from then on. He still played with Chillie a little and took his walk round and round the house after meals. He's liked to keep in shape.:)
It was amazing to watch him age so gracefully. He looked right into my face even blind. He must have had it memorized as far as where to look by the sound of my voice.
In January this year he started to go senile. getting worse the last two months. He still used his pan and took his walks but he was bumping into things and also fell down the stairs. So I had to watch him carefully and put up a screen to prevent him from falling again. Like all my dogs their last months Yoda stayed close to me and was in my lap a lot. I really believe they know their end is near.
His appetite remained good up until the last two weeks and then I had to hand feed him baby food. He was now so senile he didn't even know me or his surroundings. He slept all day just as a senile person would. Yesterday he refused to swallow the baby food. I knew he would cross soon.:( He went fairly peacefully at 12:30 am this morning. Both Chillie and Maureen came in to say goodbye to Yoda seconds after he passed. I was still listening with the stethoscope for a heartbeat but they knew. He will be dearly missed.
