Fountains of joy :)

We had a wonderful walk in town today, and Maja played with some small fountains in a square. Pretty skeptical at first - water coming up from the ground was something new, but after a while she was running happily around them, barking at them and trying to catch them :)

Today's lesson, though, is this: don't bark at a fountain while your head is right above it ;)

Peace on earth

Today we have walked more than three hours, on streets and in terrain, free and on leash, wagging tail held high. Wonderful , great walks. And in the day Jurgita was also at home, we were sitting in the bed (Saturday privileges) and watching a film, with Maja lying between us. She so loves it when we are all gathered. Then she helped me clean the garden a little bit.

Now I am having a small beer before bedtime, she is happily sleeping on the carpet beside me. All is peaceful and quiet. Life is good :)

FIRST THUNDER

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM...

Yaaaawn... What was that? Thunder? Lightning? Oh, well.. I'll just sleep on :)

All is good

Two good weeks. Warm weather, sunshine, I have had my first swim. Long, calm walks. THunder and heavy summer rain. Maja's fur is now getting back to how it should be; smooth and shiny and silky. We try not to let her play to much with other dogs and not to throw things for her to chase, and the last week she has been walking so nicely. No limp, no pain, no worries. Sunshine, flowers and butterflies.

Life is good to people and dog :)

A beautiful spring

That said (referring to the last post), it has been a wonderful spring, full of flowers, blooming trees, sun and warm days. It is a little bit like experiencing the spring for the first time, as I try to notice Maja experiencing her first spring. It is fantastic to be able to spend the evenings outside, to work and play in the garden, to go for long evening walks, to spend an evening by a lake - humans hunting for fish and dog hunting for frogs and insects. Nothing tastes as good as meat grilled outside, accompanied with a cold beer - Maja waits patiently on her blanket but gets some bones afterwards. It is - despite bad legs, fur problems and other worries - a time filled with life, happiness and wagging tails :)

Last weekend we went to one of the coastal towns in Lithuania: Palanga. Lithuania has the most amazin beaches, miles and miles of broad beaches with soft, wonderful sand. This was Maja's first meeting with the ocean, and loved the beach from the first second. A place to run and run and run endlessly :) The ocean was a but weird, though.. It was her first meeting with waves, and that was strange. Whenever she went to check out the water, the water came to check out her :) Not completely safe...

LIFE IS NOT FAIR TOWARDS A LITTLE DOG!!

Jurgita commented today that I haven't written much on Maja's blog lately, and I guess it is about time to do that.  And I should also say WHY I haven't blogged very much. I am so tired of writing about problems with health and problems with legs. Not tired of Maja, not at all, but tired of her having problems, tired of having make her go to the vet, tired of being worried. She is such an amazing dog, and she doesn't deserve it at all.

She has - as I have written several times before - had problems with her legs for quite some time. The doctor's opinion was that it probably was panostaosis, a leg infection disease that is quite commong for pups of large breeds. It disappears by itself after some months Lately, we have been giving her shots with homeopatic medicine ("traumeel" and "zeel"). It has worked so nicely - she always used to limp a little on walks and especially after playing, but lately she has been walking so nicely, head held high, tail wagging. It is such a pleasure and such a joy to see it. We give her the shots ourselves, and that has been an experience in itself. She knows what is coming, and she takes it with such a patience - lies down, lies completely still while we give the shot, and wags so happily afterwards. She is absolutely amazing.

Yesterday, right before I came from work, she suddenly got problems with her left front leg. She almost couldn't walk, didn't want to stand on it, was lifting it from the ground and putting it on our laps. And her usual great mood disappeared - the rest of the evening she seemed tired and sad, and just wanted to sleep. Forst half of today was the same, but right before we went to the vet (again), she suddenly got better - she started walking normally and was in super mood. The vet had a very short look at her and found a small wound in her left paw, that she though might have been the reason. We were so relieved when we went from the vet. I walked Maja home, it was a 40 minute wonderful walk without no problems at all - sun was shining, birds were singing, and I had plans for some really nice blog posts. When we came home, she ran a little bit in the garden, and suddenly it appeared again. The rest of the evening she has been sleeping curled up on her blanket, and she doesn't even wag her tail when I "drop by" to say hi. I feel so sorry for her. So - another trip to the vet tomorrow, obviously, and this time we should not stop until we find out for sure what her problem is.

I am not sure if I can compare having Maja to having a child - maybe it would be an insult to "real" parents? Anyway, I find myself emotionally more involved than I thought I would be before we got Maja. Seeing her wag her tail and be in a good mood makes me feel so happy because she is happy. And seeing her in a bad shape - like now - really, really gets to me. It is not fair!

Rollin', rollin'....