I actually thought about posting last week, then out of laziness and sadness just didn't. We lost our great dane last Tuesday to bloat and it completely devastated us. There is a high risk in big dogs to get this and our baby was one of them. There are 3 phases to it and Titan just went straight into the 3rd phase with no warning of the first 2 phases. He was fine all day and then that night our son told us he was trying to throw up but couldn't so we got him and his belly was really bloated. Hubby took him to the emergency vet and they did xrays and tests and it was just too bad. His stomach had really twisted badly and it was already dying. We ended up having to make the hardest decision to put him down. I cried so hard that night. I could not believe we lost our baby. I had heard of bloat before and we did what we could to prevent him from getting it. He ate several times a day and he was always a gassy animal! He had the obnoxious habit of eating then coming to wherever you were and burped at you. Which is actually a good thing. Means the gas is not building up in their tummy.
I was at home when hubby called and said there was only a small chance that he would make it and what should we do. So we made the horrible decision to have him put down. My hubby was there holding him when it happened. I was at home with the kids and could not make it up there to be with him and decided that I did not want to keep him alive and in pain to wait for me to get there so I stayed home and bawled my eyes out.
We did not tell the kids in the morning since they had to go to school but waited til that night to tell them. They were all devastated also. He was such an awesome dog. He spent time with all the kids, but was really my youngest sons dog. He did not really understand but is upset that he does not have his dog. We did decide to have him cremated and will get his remains back. The kids are going to pick out what we are going to keep him in and we will have him with us always. I think we may do a decoupage of pics of him and the kids on whatever container we can find, so that way they have happy memories of their puppy.
I am not sure that I mentioned that we got rid of our Jack Russell we had, but we gave her to someone who really wanted another one. She has one and used to have 3 but got divorced and he got 2 and she got 1 so she really wanted another one and I was really just tired of dealing with a dog that ran out the door every time I opened it so it was the perfect solution. The kids were a little upset but really knew that she was going to be better off.
We did find another puppy this past weekend and decided to get him. It is another Great Dane, but we decided that we were going to do a different color and do one with cropped ears. So we got a fawn (Scooby Doo) with the ears that will stick up. We (I) decided on the name Apollo for this one. The other names I really liked ( Socrates & Archimedes) were just too hard for the kids to say so we decided Apollo was the best one. I wanted to stay with Greek Mythology and I really think that it is the perfect name. He is 9 weeks old and is already 30 lbs. He is doing great and the whole family has really taken to him. He is doing great with potty training and is adjusting well to all the kids! I will have to get a pic of him up soon.
The weekend was a fairly quiet one. Our daughter had a basketball game on Saturday along with pictures. They FINALLY scored their first point!! It was just the one basket, but they were ecstatic. They lost, but they played well. They were aggressive and prevented a lot of baskets from the other team and really seemed to have a good time this week. Too bad its the end of the season!! But I think overall it was a great experience. They are just a bunch of girlie girls and basketball is just something that they did cuz it was the whole group of them and I think that they had fun just being together. They are never upset that they lose, so that is a positive thing! I think that they would be much happier painting nails and being girls! They do want to do it again next year though. There is actually going to be a basketball clinic that they can do this Summer and they all want to do it, so maybe that will be what the girls need to learn how to play!
I had a stomach bug on Sunday and was sick all day so we did not do anything for the Super Bowl. We were supposed to get together with my family but called it off since I was feeling so bad. We were rooting for the Bears and were disappointed that they lost but enjoyed the game! Sucks that football is over though! I think my favorite Super Bowl commercial was the Bud one with the squirrel. The Federline commercial was a close second.