In which Delilah scares us to death.. and fall show schedule

We had a small health scare with Delilah – something I’m really not equipped for, after what we went through with her brother.

I left Sean alone with her, for almost the very first time, so that I could drop in at work for a while. I should point out here that work takes me about two hours and change to get to, so it’s lucky I only have to go in once or twice a week at the most. Even at that, I’ve been behind due to caring for the puppies, so I really needed to get caught up. Sean assured me he’d be fine with feeding her, and since she’s enthusiastically eating her raw every meal, I didn’t for see any problems. Silly me – you should always for see problems.

I got a panicked phone call about two hours after I’d gotten in to work – Sean was rushing Delilah to the emergency vet, because she was gasping for air. Apparently, she’d eaten her breakfast, then napped as usual. Two hours or so later, Sean was playing with her on his lap when she suddenly and violently regurgitated food and milk, most of it through her nose. Panicking and scared, she sucked some back into her lungs, aspirating the liquidy mess inside of herself. Choking as the thick liquid filled her lungs, she began gasping for breath, while Sean tried to do mouth to mouth and help her expel it. We’re lucky to have a vet who lives a reasonable drive from us, and Sean called her to have her meet him at the clinic as soon as possible.

The veterinarian examined Delilah, and confirmed she’d aspirated fluid into her lungs. Since Delilah was now breathing normally, albeit with the occasional sneeze of goop out of her nose, the vet simply prescribed antibiotics and an anti inflammatory, to stave off possible pneumonia.

I, in the meantime, was driving like a mad woman – a one handed mad woman, mind you – to get home to my puppy. I arrived in time to find Sean and Delilah curled up together, both seeming none the worse for the wear for their adventure. Delilah seems fine – she’s eating and playing, and other than skipping her goats milk, we’re treating this as a one-time incident that could have happened to anyone. We’ll likely never know why Delilah threw up, but so long as it never happens again, I don’t really care.

Here’s Delilah this morning – other than being a bit subdued, she seems fine. I’m going to try to shoot a new video of her tomorrow.

Fall Shows

Ms. Penelope is getting ring ready as we speak for her show ring debuts. She’ll be entered in Trillium, Georgina, Brantford and Credit Valley. I’m using a professional handler to do ringside pick up on her (that means we drop her off before her first class on the first day of the show, and pick her up at the end of showing, usually a Sunday night). I don’t handle myself, as I’m horrid at it – although I’m decent when showing big dogs, likely because that’s what I grew up handling.

If you’re going to be at any of the shows, drop us a line and let us know – or come cheer her on in the Frenchie ring!