Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday, the post where I highlight reader’s comments, answer questions and generally just wrap up the week.

You Make Me Smile – May 22, 2016

Cupcake said, “When any space sneaks in between Mom and me, I stand up in the bed next to her head and stare at her till she wakes up and opens a place in the covers for me to slide under and resume my position against her. If I can’t feel her heartbeat, I am too far away. When she says the word, “Get offa me, weirdo!” Then I know I’m in the perfect spot.”

Cupcake, you always make me laugh. Maybe I should feature YOU in one of my Sunday posts. 🙂

Hailey and Zaphod said, “Similar things have happened to me. I have been sure it was one dog in the bed and it was the other!”

Do you find that you typically KNOW which dog it is because of the way they get on the bed? Both my dogs have different techniques, which is what totally threw me off.

Jan K said, “Cricket always goes behind my legs, and Sheba doesn’t look for snuggles too often. It’s usually Luke if someone piles themself behind my back! Once he knows I’m awake he rolls right onto his back looking for a tummy rub. 🙂”

That’s super cool. Both my dogs will roll onto their backs for tummy rubs too!

Blueberry’s Human said, “You get to sleep in on Sunday?? I have to get up an hour earlier than the work week to get in a quick walk before church. It figures B feels most like snuggling and sleeping in on Sunday which makes it challenging to get up. And B doesn’t care if I want to snuggle or not. She will press herself as close to me as she can get. Sometimes she will press her nose into my neck and I will feel her nose juice drip down my neck. Makes me giggle every time.”

Yes, Sundays are my sleep in day. Don’t get so excited, I’m usually up by 8:00 am. 🙂 Nose juice makes you giggle? I can’t stand it when Delilah drips WATER on my feet!

Monika and Sam said, “Snuggles by any fur-iend means a big smile, on our face and in our hearts.”

You are spot on right there. 

Jan said, “They all like to pose three inches from my nose until I open my eyes to the horror that is before me.”

Ba ha ha, I only get that when someone has to go potty.

2 Brown Dawgs said, “LOL brown dawgs are not big snugglers so I usually don’t have to worry about them getting on the bed. Oh they don’t mind waking you up, but not by getting on the bed.”

So how do the brown dawgs wake you? 😉

Jen said, “When Leroy wants to snuggle he just jumps on top of me. When Sherman wants to snuggle he rolls over for belly rubs 🙂”

Good lord Jen, that dog weighs more than you! Doesn’t he crush you?

The Most Important Question You Can Ask Your Vet

Well no surprise, you guys rose to this challenge and gave some amazing suggestions, things I hadn’t remembered or thought of because I was so focused on supplements. Because the responses were so detailed, I’ve only briefly touched on them here. I highly recommend you go and check them out.

Jana Rade says vets hate that question and she’s probably right. I still ask the question though, because I’ve been with my vet for quite some time and she knows my dogs very well. She does keep on top of current nutrition and treatments and since our views are very similar, I depend on her for guidance. 

Emma pointed out that some products work better with some dogs than other ones do. You may have to experiment to see which ones (or combinations of treatments) work best for Lily, and also suggested chiropractic care. 

Jen Gabbard shared, “When it comes to glucosamine supplements we’ve noticed some of them seem to lose their effectiveness after awhile…”

This is something else I forgot about. At first the Rejenease was amazing for Sampson, it is what got him over that CCL repair hump, and then after a bit it seemed like Sampson needed a little something more. 

Jan K mentioned a product called “Wag” from Pet Research Corp, and fish oil.

Callie, Shadow and Ducky’s mom suggested a ramp to help Lily with the stairs. Which is also a great idea.

Monika and Sam said, “There’s no substitute for diagnostic tests and physical exams by professionals….Nutrition is also something that should probably be reviewed as nutritional needs change as pets get older.”

Good thought! I totally spaced on the nutrition piece. Weight can also play a factor, even a pound or two can often times make a difference!

Colby has his guys on generic glucosamine and chondroitin and always asks his vet what he would do if it were his dog.

Cupcake said her mom gave a previous dog Cosequin.

As you can see, there are some fabulous suggestions here! And if your vet is like mine, you can always call them up and run stuff past them.

Silent Fireworks – It’s a Thing!

Taryn Tipton said, “That is a wonderful meme! You should post it over on FaceBook (if you didn’t already) so we can all share it! Just last night, I had the boys out in the yard after dark and I heard a very loud POP, followed a split second later by Jimmy’s frantic pawing at the storm door to be let in. Just one firecracker is all it takes to ruin his night! Sadly, Memorial Day starts the season of never knowing when evening poppers (as we call them) will ruin our bedtime walk. Jimmy begins to get so phobic, he won’t go out after dark. ;-(

Thank you Taryn, I did post it on Facebook, and thanks for sharing it. That is so sad that Jimmy gets phobic, I wish more people put some thought into how their actions affect others.

Genevieve said, “Cupcake is not bothered by fireworks at all. I, on the other hand, am NOT a fan. The neighborhood street fireworks seem especially pointless.”

I’m with you, I don’t get it at all either.

Emma said, “I hate all the fireworks the people around here have. They used to all be illegal in MN, but they are now legal and people feel the need to start practicing about a month before the 4th. It doesn’t phase me, but it keeps Mom up! Katie used to be terrified too, but now not being able to hear has solved that problem.”

They used to be illegal here too, and you only had to worry about a few people that went to neighboring states to buy them, but now they are legal.  They can be super disruptive.

Sue said, “It is like WWIII every July here in our very rural neighborhood. It starts early and lasts way past July 4. The money these folks invest in fireworks makes me shake my head and my animals hate it. I close blinds and draperies, put dog calming music on and pull out the Kongs. The Thundershirt upsets Rudy even more and I have yet to find anything that really helps much at all.”

I would have thought you’d have less fireworks in your area. That really stinks about Rudy. Jan (two comments below) just posted about a new drug that is being marketed for this. It’s very new, but you may want to check into it.

Two French Bulldogs said, “We are moving to a small town in Italy.”

Ba ha ha!

Jan said, “I will never understand the joy in setting off $10 worth of noise for a few minutes of noise and smoke. Only one of my dogs is bothered by the noise, but it is enough for me to want to go to the silent fireworks. We live close to the university campus where the fireworks ground zero is, but it is the all day neighborhood ones that I really hate.”

That must suck! I know how loud our local campus gets! I’m with you though, it’s the neighborhood ones that really suck. The town ones have a specific time frame, where the neighborhood ones seem to go on and on and on.

Jen Gabbard said, “And any little thing we can do to help make lives easier for Veterans is A-OK by me. PTSD can be triggered by so many things, yet most of us are completely unaware.”

You are so right! It doesn’t even have to be a gunshot/fireworks pop, I watched my nephew duck and cover once when someone moved a large table unexpectedly.:-)

Well that’s it for me folks, have a safe and Happy Memorial Day!