The little squirt made us proud.

Crystal here.

Kim and I decided to bring Jaida with us to a housewarming party last weekend. Personally, I've always been a tad concerned about how Jaida would react to a situation like this. Because of all her illnesses and surgeries as a pup, we weren't able to get her out into the world for as much socialization as we would have liked.

So we got to the girls' house on Saturday afternoon, and there were loads of people, dogs, children, food, music, commotion, noise...it seemed like a lot and I expected Jaida to be clingy and whingy. I couldn't have been more wrong.

After a quick tour with her around the property, a brief scuffle with our friends' dog, and showing her where her water bucket was, Jaida (a.k.a. Little Miss Independence) was off doing her own thing.

She was fascinated with the children. I think she liked having pople at her own eye level. She let them pet her and lean on her and play with her tail, then spent HOURS running back and forth between them as they tossed around frisbees and badminton birdies. She never took their toys. She watched them closely when they were playing in the kiddie pool. She nudged them on their tummies with her soft nose, making the littlest ones squeal and giggle. It was truly awesome to watch.

She didn't ignore the adults either, and introduced herself to most of them, often plopping down in the middle of a group of lawn chairs to score a few quick pats and scritches as she rested between bouts of play.

She didn't beg, steal food, cry, whinge or cling to her mums. She played nicely with the other dogs who wanted to play, and respectfully gave space to those who didn't. We couldn't have asked for a better-behaved puppy.

Jaida's three-leggedness was definitely a conversation starter. Most of the time the conversations started with "why is she limping?" ... people had no idea she was missing a leg until we pointed it out to them. Although I did catch one person staring at Jaida from across the lawn counting aloud with a puzzled look on her face:

("one...two...threee...one...two...threeeee.....?")

That one made me giggle a bit. Once they saw how well she was getting around and how much she was enjoying herself, her disability stopped being an oddity, and people simply commented on what a great dog she was.

The little squirt has turned out o.k.

I forgot to tell you...

I also did a nifty trick for a three-legged dog with only ONE GOOD LEG in the front.

I dug a hole. Yes I did. In the yard. I was thinking about putting my frisbee in the hole, but I changed my mind because I was pretty sure I'd forget where I put it. It took all my strongness and fastness and sometime (ok lots of times) I landed on my face, but I did it all by myself.

Here is my hole that I did dig, all by myself: TA-DAAA!!!

Swiiiiming, swiiiiming, in my swimming poooool...

Jaida here.

Speaking of presents, moms came home with a present for me on the weekend. It was big and purple and round and wet...can you guess? A POOL!!! Just for me, on account of my cuteness. I love playing silly splashes in my bucket, and I'm still trying to figure out how to catch the water that comes from that snake-thing that squirts me when I'm in the vegetable garden, but this POOL is just TOO FUN!

Because of my strongness and athleticness I am great at this POOL stuff. I can ALMOST catch the water from the snake-thing and I can make waves for my crafty teeth to practice with.

Gracie will not come in my POOL with me. I tried to show her how fun it is, but grumpster Gracie does not like to get her feet wet. Silly Gooser.

Mmmm...leftovers.

Jaida here.

My kitty-brother Solomon is a wild ferocious jungle beast who likes to catch little furry creatures when he's not snoozing-sprawling in the sun or cuddling with moms or having me bounce on him. Sometimes he brings presents home for moms. I don't think they like his presents, they say "EEEWWWWW, GROSS!"

Solomon brought fabulous ME a present yesterday! Mom Crystal was outside with me in the morning and I found it on the lawn, so I picked it up with my crafty teeth. It was very nice and tasty and squishy and I wanted to hold it in my mouth for a bit before I ate it. But mom saw the present's tail hanging out of my mouth and she went "EEEEEEWWWW, GROSS!" and came to take it away from me, how rude!!

So I ran away from her...I didn't want Solly to think I didn't like his present. Mom chased me all over the yard (ha-ha I'm faster than her and she has NO boo-boo legs at all) and said words I didn't understand but I think they were NOT NICE WORDS until she finally caught me.

But I held on to my present very hard and I tried to keep in in my mouth. Mom tried to get me to DROP IT but IT WAS MY PRESENT so I didn't. Mom then had the nerve to put her hand in my mouth and take my present away!!! Then she went "EEEEEWWW, GROSS!" again and threw my present over the fence. Then she marched me inside and told mom Kim that I was NOT-TEE.

I don't get those moms of mine sometimes. I'll have to tell Solly to leave my presents somewhere where moms can't see....

Boring old medical stuff.

Crystal here.

Well, I'm going to bore you all to tears with some medical updates.
Jaida had a recheck with Dr. Sparling on the weekend, and passed with flying colours. She's healed up, looking good, and can get back to the business of playing in mudpuddles and such. She's off all meds (has been for a few weeks), and is back to roaming about the house of her own accord.

You'll recall that the original plan was to retain part of her leg and have her fitted with a prosthesis...obviously that's not in the cards these days (no stump = no prosthesis). So now we're on a mission to do everything we can to prevent wear or premature degeneration of the joints of her remaining legs. This is going to be especially important for her ONE GOOD LEG, which now bears about 60% of her body weight.

We're exploring a few things:

1. a diet change, to a food that encourages lean body mass (high protein/low carbohydrate), provides antioxidants, and contains supplements that will support her joints (omega 3 fatty acids and glucosamine). We're trying out a food by Purina called JM (Joint Mobility) for starters, but we continue to research other products. Lately we've become a little more careful about the types of ingredients in our pets' foods, and are leaning towards more holistic varieties.

2. supplements of fish oil and of glucosamine/chondroitin. These will help with inflammation and joint repair. The amount we give her is going to ultimately depend on the type of food she ends up eating...i.e. if the food provides her with the appropriate "dose" of these supplements on its own.

We'll update on these items as we get the kinks/details sorted out. Stay tuned!

I am a frisbee superstar!

Jaida here.

I'm great at frisbee, have moms ever told you that? Yep, this gorgeous gal is the best frisbee player around. I'm not sure why moms get the giggles when I play (I guess it's because they are so in awe they simply do not know how to express it properly, with "oooohs" and "aaaaaahs").

So, moms throw my frisbee, and I run with all the fastness of my THREE GOOD LEGS until I catch up with where it is sitting on the ground. Then I GRAB the frisbee with my crafty teeth, land on my head and do a perfect somersault, landing neatly on my side. TA-DAAAA!!!

My superstar video!

Gracie doesn't know how to play. She CATCHES the frisbee while it's still in the AIR...what fun is there in that?

Running fool.

Crystal here.

I thought I'd post a couple of links to videos I took of Jaida last night running around with Gracie. It's pretty neat to see her in action, propeller-butt and all!

Video # 1

Video # 2

And one more picture of Miss Thing looking all grown-up: