Tag Archives: Bernese Mountain Dog

A Tough Dog Weekend

Molly had a surgery a week-and-a-half ago to remove a growth. It was sent off, and was found to be a cyst, not cancer. That’s great news. However, this weekend, her stitches weren’t quite holding well, and she’s gotten an infection in the sutured area. It’s not a big, big deal, but it was another visit to the vet for her yesterday morning.

Fast forward to last night. Bailey started being ill around midnight, and after a quick phone consult with our vet tech, we thought we were out of the woods. Just a short bit later, she was ill again, and it was obvious that something was wrong. Beck took her to an emergency vet hospital, and it was good that she did. Somehow, Bailey’d gotten hold of two socks, and had swallowed them whole. Her stomach was full of them, and they were starting to work their way through her system. This was nowhere near as bad as it could’ve been, but it meant a surgery. Bailey’s still at the hospital, and we’re hoping to bring her home tomorrow or Tuesday. She’ll have a week or more of recovery, and I don’t know how we’ll keep her still, given her six-month-old puppyhood, but we’ll find a way I’m sure.

Not a very cool weekend, but it could’ve been a lot worse.

Go Leo!

We just got word that Bailey’s dad, Leo, is off to Westminster for the big dog show there this weekend. (You can see the owner’s blurb about it here.) I knew Leo was a big name dog, but I had no idea how much so. Take a look here to see more about his #1 ranking amongst Berners in 2009.

From the Westminster Kennel Club site, it looks like the Working group will begin airing live Tuesday night.

Go Leo go!

New Addition!

Our trip has paid off, and we have a bouncing Berner baby girl — Bailey!

We showed up at Trulli Kennels, with three little ones to choose from. They were all cute, and it would’ve been great to scoop ’em all up, but we were there for one.

So why’d we pick Bailey?

She was the biggest. She’s a little chunk — 17 pounds at 8 weeks — and seems like she’s destined for bigness. We were told her pop was 120-130, and her mom was about 105. She’s gonna be big.

She was the fastest. Every time I ran around the yard, she was the first one to catch up to me. It was cool to have all three of them chasing me around, but you can’t compete with speed and girth. 🙂

And then there’s the markings. She’s beautifully marked with cute little freckles on the end of her nose — she’s easy to pick out in a lineup.

She’s wormed her way into our lives, and we’re thrilled about her!

Another Surgery

Molly underwent surgery a month or so ago to remove a cancerous growth. She recovered well from it, but we recently noticed that her scar was kinda swollen, which was unexpected. Today, Beck took her to the vet.

As it ends up, the cancer was back. The doc went in, and took a much larger amount of material this time, which of course, meant a much larger incision, and a little more gruesome looking aftermath. The doc also took an x-ray of her chest and found nothing insidious in the images, so that’s the good news. Of course, I’m mortified about the rapid re-growth over the last month, but am trying to put that out of my mind, and just help her mend.

Last time, we didn’t get the pain under control until the day after the surgery, which made the first day miserable. Molly whimpered and cried that whole first day and night. This time, we seem to have it under control, and though she has really glassy eyes, she seems to be bearing up better than after the last surgery.

More to come, I’m sure…