TnT's Business Cards

 Topher and Tanker got business cards for when we go to the hospitals and schools!  We want to thank our friend, Brent, for giving our dogs the nickname TNT because they are DYNAMITE!  We ordered our cards through www.vistaprint.com.  Their prices were really cheap and their cards are great!  One of our therapy dog friends recommended them to us.  We are so excited to get started.  We are only waiting for our confirmation to come back from Delta Society and then our badges to be mailed shortly after.  Then we will be volunteering in the hospitals, schools, and military hospitals.  Watch out world, here we come!  Nobody can stop us now!  GO TNT!!!


 Paws a moment for the things that matter most is on the cover of a journal I bought for $1.00 at PetSmart after Blondie died. The reason we enjoy helping others so much is because that quote is our life philosophy, especially after John died. The colors of the card are the colors of Blondie's old collar. I bought it for her when Wes came home from one of his deployments so that we could all be patriotic for his homecoming. This card is a reflection of Blondie and John, the reasons behind us spreading God's love through therapy dog work.  (I'm tearing up now.)

The Topher Diaries

The Topher Diaries: We went on our normal walk down by the river. We saw paddle boats and kayaks. We walked by the ball fields and saw soccer practice, baseball practice, and lacross practice. Apparently kids love chasing after balls like Tanker does. I still don't see the point. A few people petted me and I loved that. I wish I had my work uniform on. Have you seen me in my work uniform? I'm dead sexy. Everybody looks at me and wants to pet me when my work vest is on.  We watched for storms because Mom's phone said Thunderstorm Watch. We didn't find any storms, so we came home.  That smart phone is not very smart.  My smart nose is smarter.

Busy dog day

Today was a busy day for our two boys!  First, a lady came over to our house this morning to evaluate our home to foster a dog.  This dog was rescued from a shelter in Fredericksburg and I found out about him from a friend of a friend.   He is 13 years old (supposedly...he seemed younger to me.) and his owner dumped him when her landlord said she couldn't have a dog.  After we got evaluated, we went and met him.  His name is Boomer.  I was a bit nervous about it because Topher is not crazy about other dogs.  This dog is a pit bull mix.  He is about Topher's size and surprisingly, Topher was really interested in him and really liked him!  We went to a park together and Topher, Boomer, and Tanker walked on a trail together side by side.

I said that we didn't need something extra on our plates right now.  We were asked to raise a lab puppy for Veterans Moving Forward to be a service dog for a wounded veteran not too long ago and we turned down the opportunity for the time being because we were busy training our dogs.  It seemed too overwhelming to me to add a third at the time.  I still feel that raising and training a puppy is too much for us at the moment until Wes can get through his upcoming test for work, we can get settled into our therapy dog volunteer roles, and life settles down a little.  Boomer already has obedience training, he is good with dogs, kids, and cats, and he will only be staying with us until he gets adopted.  The benefit for Topher is that he is gentle and it gives Topher another dog to trust.  This, I hope, will build Topher's confidence in bigger dogs.  Once Boomer gets adopted, we are going to look into raising a puppy to be a service dog for Veterans Moving Forward.

We did not bring Boomer home with us today.  The lady who is temporarily fostering him is bringing him over this week to introduce him to our dogs at our house.  She is really nice.  She is going to take Boomer back during the time that our friends, Brent and Amanda, come up to visit with their dogs next month.  Everything seems to be working out perfect in the situation, so I feel like fostering Boomer is the right thing to do.

Onto the next adventure.  After the park, we went to Lowes with Topher and Tanker.  Lowes was really busy!  Topher and Tanker did really well.  Topher really enjoyed watching the forklift.  A lot of dogs go into Lowes to train as therapy/service dogs.  The employees are used to seeing us in there.  The guy operating the forklift made extra noise and did extra moves to get them used to it.  Topher was so interested.  He intently watched the boards being moved from the top shelf to the bottom.  When we moved to the concrete aisle, both Topher and Tanker layed down to watch.  I guess it wasn't so interesting anymore.  That's how laid back they are.  Noises, horns, beeps, boards dropping all around them, and they wanted to nap.

Great day overall!  Topher and Tanker are sacked out.  Wes and I are pretty tired ourselves.

Topher and Tanker's first outing to Lowes as official certified therapy dogs. They got to wear their new vests. Everybody loved them and they did so well!

 

 

Good Tanker Update

All of Tanker's supporters deserve a good update on him. 

Tanker has been home for two days now and is still seizure free.  He is doing great!  We added the Keppra into his daily meds on Tuesday afternoon.  He has since become pretty weak in his back end.  He is still on the higher doses of Phenobarbital and Zonisimide.  I will lower those doses back to normal tomorrow.  The Keppra needed three days to get into his system before we could lower the other drugs.

Other than being weak in his back end and pretty tired, he has lost his appetite.  The zonisimide can cause that, but the Potassium Bromide causes him to eat more, so they have always balanced each other out.  I don't know if the Keppra causes lack of appetite or not.  I'm hoping that once we decrease his Zonismide tomorrow that his appetite will go back to normal.

Yesterday was a difficult day with him not wanting to eat.  He only ate half his breakfast, he didn't want his dinner, and he didn't want to take his meds wrapped in turkey.  I had to give every one of his pills by shoving them down his throat yesterday afternoon.  That's six pills!  It was a struggle!  I soaked his food in water just like he likes it and let it sog up until late last night.  I then hand fed him piece by piece.  We both enjoyed that.  If you want to bond with your dogs, hand feed them!  It was a really sweet experience.

After all that, it sounds like Tanker is really not doing well, but he really is!  He loves going outside and every time I let the dogs out back, he runs around.  He then goes and sunbathes in his favorite spot where he can look up at the road and see the cars go by.  Yesterday, I did a lot of training with Topher with the "TWO PAWS" command.  Tanker layed and watched us the entire time.  I would walk over and try to give him a treat to make him feel involved.  He didn't want the treat.  He eventually got up and would follow Topher and I around the house as I made Topher "two paws" on everything.  He really wanted to be involved.  I made him sit and down occasionally so that he felt like he was part of the training too.  I wan't going to start him on the "two paws" command yet as weak has he has been in his back end.  He really loves to learn and be involved in our lives.  That's what makes him and Topher GREAT therapy dogs!

Things are calm and life is good here at the Foster Farm. The entire zoo crew is healthy and happy!

This command is called Paws Up. I say "Paws Up" and Topher puts his two front feet on the stool. I taught him this command in only 15 minutes. This command will be used to transition into the Pray command where he will put his two front feet on something and bow his head. As fast as a learner as Topher is, I hope to show that one to you all within a week.

The Topher Diaries: I am practicing the TWO PAWS command with my big cat sister, Sweet Pea, in the chair like she is a patient. Dad says to be prepared in all situations. I could encounter this in the hospital. Fat cat patients, here I come!

I usually lay here and watch my brother, Topher, learn more commands. I am a smart boy. I am learning by watching. Before long, I will be good as new and will be doing them too.

Tanker and Wes are testing for their Delta therapy dog certification on Saturday.  Tomorrow evening, we are going to a reading orientation through Blue Grey Therapy Dogs so that we can take the dogs into the schools to allow kids to read to them.  We are excited about it.  Everything is looking up.  It won't be long before we are going into schools to work with autistic kids, reading with kids in schools, visiting the military hospitals to be with the wounded troops, and volunteering in our local hospitals.  This bump in the road will not stop us from living our dreams of helping others.  Tanker and Topher are ready to make a difference in the world!

Tanker Is Home!!!

 First off, I want to thank each and every one of you for your love, support, friendship, and genuine concern during this rough weekend.  I want to thank the several coworkers of Wes' who asked Wes about Tanker at work last night.  I can't tell you how much that means to us.  We are blessed with a wonderful support system that exists here in the D.C. area, Washington, Georgia, Florida, and everywhere else.  We owe gratitude to each and every one of you for helping us through tough times such as this weekend.  Thank you.

Wes picked up Tanker from the vet after work this morning and they got home about 5 am.  We were all exhausted, but were energized by our delight for the homecoming of our sweet boy.  Tanker was his old self!  As soon as Topher heard the garage door go up and I told him that "Pom Pom" was home, he stood at the basement door patiently waiting to be reunited with his best friend.  They trotted around the house for a while and then both settled into the same dog bed.  Topher just plopped down right on top of Tanker.  We stayed up until 5:30 am because that is when Tanker is due for his regular scheduled meds.  When the medicine alarm, a.k.a turkey alarm (that's what they know it as), went off on our phones at 5:30, they all congregated in the kitchen.  Life in the Foster Zoo is back to normal.

I LOVE Woodbridge Animal Hospital.  Tanker was supposed to be picked up by midnight last night or shortly thereafter.  Their billing cycle starts at midnight for overnight stays.  They charge for 24-hour increments.  Because they knew our situation of Wes having to work late and me not being able to drive, they only charged us a half day to keep Tanker until this morning.  That is against their policy, but they made an exception for us.  I thank God everyday for the good people in this world.  Woodbridge Animal Hospital has always been very good to us and all of our pets.  Blondie was there for her heat stroke; Sweet Pea was there for a consultation when she had hepatic lipidosis (in which they didn't even charge us for!); they have been beyond wonderful to us.  I felt Tanker was in great hands all weekend long.  Wes brought them something a little special this morning to thank them for their services.

Tanker is a little bit tired this morning.  If I had ten seizures over the weekend, I would be tired and sore too!  He is still on the increased dose of Phenobarbital and Zonisimide.  Wes got up this morning at 9 to go to Costco and pick up Tanker's Keppra prescription.  (He is so dedicated to his family.  He worked all night, but woke up to be at Costco's doors when they opened.  Have I ever mentioned I am married to the greatest man alive?)  Keppra has to be given every eight hours, so we will start it this evening with his regular scheduled meds.  5:30 pm, 1:30 am, 5:30 am (for his other meds), and 9:30 am is a schedule that works well for us.  Luckily our dogs volunteer with us, so they will be with us most of the time anyway when we volunteer with each other once or twice a week.  Because Keppra takes about three full days to build up in the system, Tanker will remain on the higher doses of Phenobarbital and Zonisimide until Friday.  We will then wean him back down to his regular dosage.  I have a lot of faith in this drug.  It is a human drug (as are most of Tanker's medications) and it controls seizures well in humans.  Being able to get this drug at a very reduced cost through Costco's uninsured drug program (since Tanker doesn't have a paying job) was an answer to prayers in itself.  I can't help but to think this medication will also be an answer to a lot of prayers in controlling Tanker's seizures.

Tanker and Wes still plan to test for their therapy dog test this weekend.  Talk about dedication!  Tanker is running around and following commands (in between napping) and Wes feels that he will do just fine on it.  Tanker and Wes both LOVE to get out and help others and I know both are anxious to join Topher and I as Delta Society Pet Partners.  We are all excited to volunteer once or twice a week for an hour or so in the mornings before Wes goes to work.  Helping others through our animals.  This is our life purpose.

Waiting for his brother to walk through the door.

Hello Tanker!  Welcome home!

Trotting around the house together.

Thanks to all my human and furry friends for crossing your paws for me. You must have all wished on your lucky bones because I am alive and well!!

Tanker Update

 We went up to Woodbridge Animal Hospital to visit Tanker last night.  We brought Topher with us because we knew it would do both dogs good to see each other.  We didn't get to go until around 11:30 last night because they were really busy with emergencies up until then.  Because Tanker is hooked up to an IV, we have to have a private room to visit with him.  I don't know if I have ever mentioned how much I love Woodbridge Animal Hospital.  We take the animals there for all their regular vet needs.  They also have an emergency clinic and several specialty vets in house.  We love them!  They are very compassionate towards animals. 

Tanker was really drugged up last night.  He had two seizures yesterday evening.  Plus he had the additional Valium in his system, extra Phenobarbital, and Zonisimide.  Although he was really sedate, he was glad to see us and Topher.  He wagged his tail and enjoyed us petting him.  He then layed down by the door to go back to sleep.  Topher layed with him and loved on his brother.  He even gave  him kisses on the head.  It was very sweet.  When we left, Topher didn't want to jump up into the car.  I think he felt that he should have his brother going home with him.  After attempt three, he got in the back of the car and sighed like he was saying, "okay fine, but we're only leaving him one more night."

We talked with the vet this morning.  Tanker remained seizure free all night.  He did well.  Tanker's neurologist then called me.  (She is based out of Springfield and Leesburg, not Woodbridge.)  She was puzzled as to why we didn't start the Keppra yet.  I told her it was because it was too expensive and that we couldn't afford a $400 a month drug.  I told her how we had increased the Phenobarbital to 60 mg bid and increased the Zonisimide to 250 mg bid.  She seemed irritated that the emergency doctor didn't follow her recommendations.  She said Tanker would be too drunk on those levels.  (Like I said before, he's been on 300 mg of Zonisimide bid before and did fine on it, although she thought he was too drunk.)  She said that the generic form of Keppra is much cheaper at Costco.  She called it into Costco where we usually pick up his meds.  Wes is going to pick it up now and drive it over to Woodbridge.  (Woodbridge does not keep it on stock because it is a human drug and it is not used very often in dogs.  Same goes for the Zonisimide.)  I am hoping it is  A LOT cheaper at Costco, because we really cannot afford $400 a month for one drug.  There is a reason we drive older cars.  We're military.  We don't make tons of money.  Adding Keppra is like a car payment.

If Tanker does fine all day, he'll be coming home tonight.  Wes is working 3:30 until midnight.  He'll pick Tanker up on his way home from work.  I am keeping my fingers crossed and saying my prayers that he does fine and that we can afford to keep him seizure free for as long as we can.  Tanker and Topher have jobs to do.  They are trained and ready to spread their love to others.  Tanker's purpose is to help children with disabilities.  Tanker has a disability.  He is the perfect dog to show others that's it's okay to not be "normal."  That's our purpose as therapy dog teams.

Topher comforting Tanker at the vet last night. Topher is Tanker's therapy dog. He is my therapy dog. He has been a blessing to our family.

Tanker Update

We called up to the vet and Tanker just had another seizure.  Wes and I are heartbroken over this.  He was doing so well before yesterday.  I just don't understand. 

Tanker's Phenobarbital has been increased to 60 mg morning and night.  His Zonisimide has been increased to 250 mg morning and night.  His Zonisimide can go up to 300 mg morning and night.  He has been on that dose before and did really well on it.  The last option would be to add Keppra, which we cannot afford.  Keppra, alone, costs about $400 a month.  We already spend over $100 a month on drugs alone for him.  We can work our budget, but I'm not sure we can add in another $400 every month for one drug.  We still have vet and neurology visits too.

We are hoping, praying, wishing on the stars, crossing our fingers, the animals are crossing their paws, etc. that he snaps out of this and it is just some funky seizure cycle he has slipped into.  I honestly don't know what we're going to do at this point if he keeps seizing like he is.  If he has another seizure, they are going to sedate him with a Valium drip.  Wes has already said that he doesn't want Tanker to pass away there.  We want to bring him home.  That is our commitment to him.  He needs to be with his family.

My mom keeps reminding me that Tankers are tough.  Wes found Tanker out on the flightline at Fairchild AFB in the middle of the winter.  He had been living on his own for a week in the snow.  We rescued him and gave him a nice place to stay.  He had a seizure the first night.  We made a commitment then to always give Tanker a good home and a comfortable life, no matter what.  We will not give up now.  We will do whatever it takes to keep him comfortable.  Just as the KC-135s Stratotankers break, and then are made new with the work of highly skilled maintainers, Tanker will be made new through our care.  We are just not sure what God's definition of new will be for him yet.

Tanker with the Tanker Pride banner off of a KC-135 engine cover.