Then we moved to Raleigh and I lived in an apartment  by myself.  So it was just me and him for a while.  Until Van and I got married, then he had to welcome Van into the family.  Which means he also had to relinquish his side of the bed!  When he finally got used to that arrangement, Van brought home Jimmy the cat.  Toby still doesn’t trust Jimmy.  Then we brought home Blake, and most recently Ashley.  So the poor guy has gone through a lot of changes the past 6 years.  It’s just been one thing after another.  He’s still my No. 1 man though.  Here’s to another 9+ years of chuck-it, tennis balls, swimming, walks and belly rubs!  We love you Toby James!

We had lots of fun and Ashley enjoyed meeting them.  She had her moments, but I think that’s because her top teeth must be cutting.  Teething makes for a cranky and clingy baby!  But for the most part, she was her usual happy self.  We went out to eat, walked on the beach, and relaxed by the pool.

The boys had a blast!  Pat and Ritt have a yellow lab at home, so they are also lab lovers.  Ritt played and played and played with them.  He swam with them in the pool, threw ball for them on the beach, and gave them lots of attention.  They soaked it all up!  They were so tired when we left that they ended up sleeping the whole way home.

Meanwhile, Van and I took the boys to the beach.  Since it was getting dark, my pictures didn’t turn out very good.  But the boys had a great time!  We threw their bumper in the ocean for them to fetch.  They love jumping through the waves!  It makes me so happy to see them having fun.  I love my boys

On a sad note though, there is a lady here on vacation who lost her dog.  She is from Atlanta.  Her dog got spooked by fireworks and ran away.  It’s a Bernese Mountain dog.  So she has posted fliers everywhere and people have been searching for him.  Someone came up to us last night as we were walking to see if we had seen her dog.  I feel so bad for her.  Since I almost lost Blake 2 years ago in the same circumstance, I know that lump in your throat feeling.  It just breaks my heart.  I really hope her doggie  finds his way back home!

And I’m not the only one who has problems with fireworks.  Toby can’t stand them.  He barks, pants, and runs around the yard in circles. He gets all worked up.  There is no rationalizing with him.  It’s like he is in a trance, another state of mind. This year we locked Toby and Blake up in the garage under the house.  A few of you may remember the story a couple years ago when Toby was going bizerk at the fireworks so Blake thought he would “stop” the fireworks for him.  Blake proceeded to jump in the waterway, during the pitch black night, and swim up the waterway towards the fireworks.  Long story short, we barely got him back, and it was a nightmare I will never forget.  So tonight, Toby is on anti-anxiety medication and they are both locked up downstairs.

Anyways, it was a pretty chill day.  We really didn’t do much.  Perfect for a vacation huh?  Played ball with the boys, they swam, and I read a book sitting by the pool (I’m just now getting in on the Twilight craze!).  Played with Ashley and gave her some watermelon.  Van relaxed and enjoyed himself.  I don’t think I saw him open his laptop until tonight – which is a first!  And even then, it was just to download pictures.  We watched the fireworks from the waterway.  Very pretty.  And Ashley did good.  The noise didn’t bother her and she really didn’t show much of a reaction.  She was pretty indifferent to the whole thing.  Well, until you tried to put her to bed.  But overall, a wonderful holiday!

Here are some pictures from July 4th 2010…

We left today and I’m planning on blogging every day about our little adventures.  It’s Ashley’s first vacation, so you know there will be lots of pictures to post!  We had a good trip down here, which was nice for a change.  The past few times we’ve made the road trip, Ashley has only slept the first 2 hours and then the last hour we have had to listen to her cry the rest of the way.  This time, she made it 2 hours, we stopped for a late lunch, fed her, changed her diaper, and then made it the last hour – with no crying – yay!  She even fell back asleep after our lunch break.  It really took us 4 hours to get here because of all the traffic getting on the island.  But Ashley did great despite being stuck in the car for an additional hour.

We arrived late afternoon and just relaxed a bit.  Aunt Jenn and Uncle Nathan are here so Ashley hammed it up for them.  We also got to see Uncle Eddie, Aunt Sibyl, and cousins Leslie, Blair and Hunter.  We all enjoyed a yummy steak dinner on the grill and chatted it up.  It was a nice start to our vacation.  Can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store!

As for Miss Ashley, she is growing like a weed.  Well, more like a beautiful flower, but you know what I mean   She will be 7 months old tomorrow and her development is really picking up lately. She has 2 little teeth buds on her lower gums.  She’s been teething for a while, but you can just now see the teeth that are about to come through.  You can feel them too!  It’s so neat.  The past few days the amount of drool she puts out has really increased.  So between the dogs and a teething baby, I’ve got drool coming out of my ears!  I can’t imagine my baby with teeth.  I’m going to miss that gummy smile of hers!  She is also on the verge of crawling.  If she’s sitting up, she’ll flip foward on her tummy and reach out for things.  You can tell she wants to move but doesn’t know how just yet.  It won’t be long now.  She also does it if you are holding her.  She’ll bend down like she wants to be put down to crawl.  I feel like she just mastered sitting up, so I hope I can enjoy this little milestone before she goes to the next.  But whatever she wants to do is fine by me!  She also has this fascination with the tags on her toys.  Not sure if this is a baby thing or Ashley thing.  But she loves messing with the tags on her stuffed animals.  It’s like she’s trying to figure out what they are.  She looks at them real methodical like and concentrates on them.

Anyway, so much for a short post.  I’m listening to Bob Marley and I guess he’s making me ramble.  Enjoy the picture show!

Grandma and Grandaddy Murray came to visit and we all went to Provisions for lunch.  It was their first time at Provisions and I think they enjoyed it.  It’s a rare feat to get us all together, so I had to capture the moment with a picture.  I love it when all of Ashley’s grandparents get together for her!  What a lucky little girl!

So that was about it.  The weekend went by quickly, like always.  We didn’t get a chance to take her down to the beach, so we’ll save that adventure for next time.  She had enough excitement for one day, just trying out the pool and visiting with everyone.  And the boys had their usual fun.  They went swimming in the pool and played some Chuckit.  In fact, everyone is tuckered out asleep as I sit here writing this…Van, Ashley and the boys!  I love the feeling of accomplishment that everyone had a good day and is now sleeping peacefully.  Ahhh

Xylitol is used as a sugar substitute and can be found in sugar-free gum, candy, foods, and is available in granulated form for baking.  It is now being included in toothpastes and other oral hygiene products due to its anti-cavity properties.  In humans, xylitol is absorbed slowly and has little to no effect on blood sugar or insulin levels.  But in dogs, xylitol is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream.  It then promotes insulin release, which causes hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), liver failure, bleeding and death.  

For those of you that know us, you know that Toby and Blake are our four-legged kids.  Toby is an 8 year old Black Lab and Blake is a 3 year old Chocolate Lab.  We’ve had Toby since he was 7 weeks old, and Blake since he was 5 weeks old.  They are Uncle and Nephew.  They go everywhere with us.  They have their own couch.  We celebrate every birthday with doggie cake and presents.  I make their own Frosty Paws (doggie icecream) and have baked home-made treats for them.  They couldn’t be more loved.  Well, last week we weren’t sure if we’d ever see them again.

I woke up Thursday morning to what would be a complete nightmare for the next few days.  I had left out an unopened pack of Trident gum Wednesday night for Van to take to work with him the next morning.  I left it on the table so he wouldn’t forget it and thought nothing of it.  When I came downstairs Thursday morning, I saw remnants of the outer package on the floor in front of the dogs’ couch and tiny parts of the wrapper on Blake’s side of the couch.  I then noticed it said ”contains Xylitol” and remembered seeing something on the news some time ago about Xylitol being bad for dogs.  So I called the vet.

They advised me that Xylitol is poisonous and instructed me to immediately bring in both dogs as their stomachs will need to be pumped.  I was in tears sitting in the waiting room.  I was so scared about what was about to happen.  They weighed the dogs and took them to the back, then put me in a room to talk to the vet.  As I was telling the story to the vet, I was crying hysterically.  The more she talked to me, the grimmer it got.  I explained that the gum had been eaten in the middle of the night while we were sleeping so I had no idea exactly what time it was consumed; nor could I verify which dog ate it or if they shared it.  Since I could not pinpoint a time, the vet said they would not pump their stomachs because it had already made it’s way into their bloodstream.  Xylitol gets absorbed in the bloodstream in as little as an hour. 

She gave me some information on Xylitol that she had printed out and basically told me they would just monitor the dogs for symptoms.  Within the first 24 hours, they watch for hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).  Which can result in seizures.  Within 48 hours, they watch for liver failure.  Once that occurs, it just progressively gets worse until they die.  There is no treatment; nothing that can be done.  They can give them fluids to make them comfortable, but that is it.  Basically, the feeling I got was that Xylitol is a death sentence to dogs.  They would have been better off eating chocolate or anti freeze.  With chocolate, you can give them charcoal to stop the absorption.  With anti-freeze, they give them something similar to Everclear to stop the absorption.  But the absorption is so immediate with Xylitol, by the time we found out what had happened and got them to the vet, it was too late to do anything.

So I left both the boys there for a full blood panel and monitoring.  On the way home with nothing but their leashes, it really hit me.  What if I wouldn’t be picking them up?  What if I would never see them again?  I took the couch apart hoping I would find pieces of gum scattered around or under the recliner where they couldn’t get to it, but nothing was found.  I knew deep down I wouldn’t find it because when Blake wants something (especially food related) he won’t stop until he gets it.  So I had no doubt that he had eaten it.  All of it.  And I’m sure Toby was watching him in the corner, drueling, saying “Don’t do that, man”  “You shouldn’t be eating that!”.  So Van and I researched Xylitol on the internet and could not find a single ray of hope.  Everything we read was pretty final.  No happy endings.  Countless dogs have died because of this stuff.  The scariest part was the amount that was consumed.  2 pieces of gum containing Xylitol is enough to kill a 20 pound dog.  That would equate to 8 pieces of gum for our guys (Toby is 79 lbs., Blake is 85 lbs.).  Well, Blake ate the entire pack which consisted of 18 pieces of gum! 

The hardest part was sitting in this empty, quiet house without them.  The minutes were passing by ever so slowly.  The mail man came, the Fed Ex truck drove by, all without a peep.  Normally the dogs bark at them.  I filled up the dishwasher, without Blake there to help me “clean” the dishes as I put them in.  No one snuck upstairs behind me.  I tried to stay strong for Ashley because I didn’t want her to see me so upset, but it was hard.  Really hard.  I kept telling myself I would never complain about cleaning up their dog hair ever again, I would walk them more, play ball more.  I would do anything to just get my boys back.  I would gladly let Toby lick me all he wanted.  And not yell at Blake for acting like a maniac. 

The vet initally said there was nothing she could do.  She would just monitor them for symptoms and once something came up, all they could do was give them fluids to help keep them stable and comfortable.  So 1:00 p.m. came around and I called again to check on them.  I asked the vet why she couldn’t go ahead and give them fluids anyway, just incase.  I just couldn’t bear waiting around anymore for something to happen.  She said she couldn’t promise that it would help, but she would do that if it was what I wanted.  I told her yes.  At least it was something.  It just didn’t make sense to wait around doing nothing.  Waiting for them to die.  So they hooked up IVs to both of them and put them on fluids for the remainder of the day.  They checked their blood glucose 3 times that day. 

I picked them up Thursday evening and it was such a relief to see them again!   That night I stayed up with them downstairs.  I fed them every 2-3 hours to keep their blood sugars up.  They happily obliged!  I monitored both of them but kept a close eye on Blake because I was 99.9% sure he was the culprit.  I watched his breathing.  Made sure he wasn’t lethargic.  Looked at his eyes and gums for changes that could be a sign of liver failure.  I finally fell asleep around 3:30 a.m. in the reclincer.  And got up at 6:30 a.m. to feed them.  Then off to the vet we went again. 

Toby’s tests came back normal so they let me bring him home for the day.  But Blake had to stay again, hooked up to an IV for more fluids.  When I brought him home Friday night we again monitored him for liver failure (since we were past the point of hypoglycemia).  Took him back Saturday morning for a re-check, and everything came back fine.  In fact, in his initial blood work on Thursday, 2 counts were high and 1 count was low.  But on Saturday, everything fell within the normal range.  At this point, it was unlikely that anything could happen, although there was still a slim chance it could (mainly because Blake is a big dog, so it might take longer to affect him).  But as I am typing this on Monday, he’s doing just fine.  Laying on his couch.  Snoring.  That’s my boy!

I am ever so thankful that there is a happy ending to our story.  But it is really a shame that there are so many out there in which this wasn’t the case.  I am determined to educate people on Xylitol and make sure everyone knows its dangers and how lethal it is for our pets.  I am angered by the companies that do not put warning labels on their products.  As I said before, this isn’t like chocolate or any other poison that can be treated.  This stuff is deadly, almost immediately!  There are warning labels on household products, such as Do Not Consume, Keep Out of Reach of Children, etc.  For something to be this lethal, why isn’t there a warning about Xylitol for dogs?  I understand gum is not for dog consumption, but neither is bleach or any other household cleaner for humans.  Should there have been a warning on the pack of Trident gum about the effects of Xylitol on dogs, I would not have left it out on the table, much less even purchased it in the first place.  In many households, dogs are our children.  And it is not right for a product this deadly to be out there with no warnings at all.  We love our boys so so much and couldn’t imagine life without them.  This nightmare has really opened our eyes to how quickly things can turn around.  Not only will we be more careful with the boys, we will also be mindful of this with Ashley.  Just how quickly she could get a hold of something that could be just as deadly, too. 

Here are some pictures of the boys that were taken in August 2008 by a professional photographer.  Yes, we PAID someone to take pictures of our dogs.  Goes to show you, these aren’t just dogs to us…