Look, I'm cute!

Mom and Auntie Deka were in the bedroom all day going through the closet which has all Mom's costume things in it. Mom used to be an actress, so she has lots of costume things like big poofy dresses that people used to wear hundreds of years ago. There's all kinds of hats and something called corsets and petticoats. I dunno what any of that stuff is, but I know it's fun! Mom & Deka were going through the closet to find costumes to wear to something called The Tim Burton Ball, which is some kind of party, I guess. Well, I have never been in that closet before and let me tell you, that is the place to be! I got petted and given treats and put on a pillow on the bed and my belly rubbed... it was AWESOME! Plus, I helped Mom pick out things for organizing the closet too. Mom let me try on some hats and scarves for this cell phone application she has called "Cloth." It is a wardrobe documenting application thingie for people who work in theater and film to keep track of costumes and clothes worn by actors. I got to model some hats and scarves, and I model like a pro. I earned some treats, definitely. Then Auntie Deka took me for a walk in the park for an hour. I chased lake chickens, and got more belly rubs!

Me, relaxing on Mom & Dad's bed.

My glamorous evening look.

Shabby Chic.

Green, lots of green.

Mom's Dickens Fair bonnet.

"Has it ever occurred to you that you are insane? 

Because you just put a tiara on a dog."

      -Deka

Getting better- but only kinda

I have been doing both better and worse. Isn't that weird? Mom reduced the Potassium Bromide and that didn't work out so well because I went from being totally drugged out all the time to being really restless all the time AND having lots of seizures. So mom increased it a little and that helped but I still have seizures. Not as many, but they are a pretty regular thing. I am really, really unhappy when I am all drugged up. I have trouble walking and can't really do much. But seizures are bad too, so Mom & Dad are trying to balance my meds and make sure I am medicated but not OVER or UNDER medicated.

Mom says she has the same problem. When she takes the pills the doctors give her, she doesn't have much of a life at all. She gets so sad and tired and woozy all the time that she can't go places and do things. The pills are real bad for her kidneys too and caused Mom to have kidney problems. Mom now has a card to take "special medicine" and that works better for her. It stops the seizures, doesn't hurt her kidneys and she can have a life and actually do things. Mom says if all else fails, she will make me special medicine dog biscuits.

So, I have been having seizures, but when I am not having seizures, I am more able to do things. I am clumsy so Mom has pit pillows around the things I bump into often, but without the extra potassium bromide, I seem happier and more alert. Mom says it is a balancing act not just with the meds but with quality of life:

Is it better (for the dog) to have a doggie that is really dopey on drugs and can't do much, but doesn't have seizures?
Or is it better to have a doggie that is on less medicine and does have seizures, but can still function and play?

It is a risk to the doggie to allow seizures, but what kind of life is a doped up one?

Mom says people who don't have seizures often don't understand what seizures are like and cannot understand how some people choose to not be medicated. It does look scary, and it does feel awful, but it is five minutes of awful in a day, and sometimes five minutes of awful is better than all the time awful.

In good news, next weekend I get to go to the beach! Me and my dog-friend Curtis are taking off to the beach in Pacifica! Mom is gonna make me a nest in the back seat of the car so I can be a wet, dirty dog if I want to be, and we are gonna go find seashells and rocks. Me and Curtis get along real well. Bunny Thing can't go because Curtis will eat her.

Testing the dog park

We went to the park again today, and had a picnic, like we did yesterday. It was fun and I got to run a lot. But when I run at the regular park, I have to be on a leash because it is the law.  So, I can't just run free. It was really windy today and pretty cold, so not a lot of people were out at the regular park. So Mom said,


     "Let's go scout out the dog park. I bet there is no one there."


And there wasn't! not in the small doggie area anyway. So I got to have the whole dog park to myself! I got to run without the leash on and my ears were flying' in the wind! Mom and Dad chased me. Well, Mom chased me a little, but she still doesn't feel well so she sat down on the bench a while. But still, it was soooooo much fun! Mom was happy cuz she got to see how I do "off leash" without other dogs around to freak me out. Today has been a whole Brocco day! The park, dog park, rubbies, chasing lake chickens, licking Bunny Thing's head and now Mom is going to lay me on her lap and fix my eye goobers with a warm, wet washcloth, then detangle and brush me while  we watch a movie. I think we're gonna watch Harry Potter. Mom says I'm "Hufflepuff House", whatever that means.

Chicken treasures and getting along.

     Mom is doing a little better today, but is still pretty wrecked. The sick that she had has messed up her tummy so bad that she can't eat normal. She has to eat soup broth and coconut water and sometimes even that she wretches up. Mom said she was going "stir crazy" and needed some air today, so we went to the park, even though it was kinda cloudy outside. Dad brought some soup and a blanket for Mom and walked me around a little in the park. Mom was able to walk me a little and I was real good and did not pull because I know she is sick and can't walk fast like she normally does. She walked me to a leafy patch and I dug around a little and found a chicken bone from someone's BBQ! It was gorgeous! it was broken in half and covered in sauce and dirt and ants and what Mom called "Bum funk." I was so excited! I was gonna take that home so I could really take my time digging into that culinary treasure! *sigh* But, Mom took it away from me. I resisted but she swatted my butt and I dropped it. She said I can't have it because;


A.) "Brocco will choke on the brittle bones."
B.) "It's covered in ants."
C.) "It smells like a leper's ass."


Mom likes to break down arguments into ABC's. Anyway, she won and I did not get to keep the bone, but she gave me a "consolation prize" of a brand new bone and some peanut butter in my kong toy. That chicken bone would have been better though.


I have not been a very good boy these last few days though. Mom has been real sick and she is so sick that Dad has to take the rest of the week off work to take care of her. I've been barking A LOT. Especially at night when Mom needs to sleep. I feel bad but I can't help it. I am excited and confused and just need to bark. I know the humies are frustrated with me, but I can't help it. The potty training is not going so well either. They want me to poo outside, but I insist on pooing in the house. Sometimes I go half outside and save the rest for the house, which Dad says he doesn't understand. 


Me and Bunny Thing are getting along really good, but Mom says I need to "respect boundaries" that the Bunny Thing has established. Bunny Thing has two places she does't want me to be in; her food and water bowls, and her favorite lounging pillow. Bunny Thing always lays on this leather Turkish pillow that Mom says they got in Istanbul and Bunny confiscated it and made it her lounge palace. Well, I like that pillow too, and I like to lay my head on it and drool a lot, which grosses Bunny Thing out. So Bunny Thing gets mad and marks her territory, peeing on it a lot so I won't lay on it. But I still do. So Mom moves me if I lay on it. She says me and Bunny Thing both have "special places", like mine is my crate den, and Dad's office, which Bunny Thing is not even allowed to go into. And Bunny Thing has her pillow, so I guess I have more space than she does, so that's fair. Mom says she will designate me my own fluffy pillow, but I might "suffer the wrath of Bunny" if I get on her pillow again. 

Me, under the table on Game Night. That's my 

harness, which Mom calls "Dog Panties."

That leather pillow with patches is Bunny Thing's

favorite place. 

I like sleeping on the kitchen floor. Mom always finds me 

asleep in there and gives me a pillow and blanket.

On Dad's lap, getting rubs. Bliss.

Sick humies & falling over a lot.

My Mom is horrible sick with something called Norovirus. It's this awful virus that makes you wretch and get dehydrated real bad. Mom had to go to the hospital but she's home now, and on "bed rest." It was so bad she has lost eleven pounds in two days! I am trying to help as much as I can. I lay by mom and am on guard duty, so that if she starts to shake or anything, I bark and let Dad know. Dad said I am doing a great job. Dad is taking real good care of mom too. He pets her a lot and changes her vomit bucket. Mom says that's how you know someone loves you. So, I've been keeping Mom company when she's awake. We watched a movie together and I was real careful not to climb on her tummy cuz it's sore. Mom says that when she gets better, she will take me hiking in the hills. She says there is a creek I can play in and I can chase squirrels if I want to.

Mom & Dad are both kinda worried about me because I am pretty clumsy and that's ok, but I tend to fall over and hit my head on things a lot. Mom thinks that seizures might have caused developmental issues. I don't know what that means, but Mom says that when she gets all better she is going to put padding on some of the things I always bump my head on. I lay by mom's feet at her desk a lot, and there is a wooden bar there and I always bump my head on it, and the other thing is that I fall asleep on the couch and then I roll off of it. Mom put down throw pillows below the couch so that when I fall I don't bust my head. Most of the time I don't even wake up, so it doesn't bother me, but Mom says people with epilepsy should be careful about bumping their heads, so I should too.

Oh, and this morning, I got a paw massage! Mom was horrible sick, but she saw my paws are dry and cracked, so she heated up olive oil and rubbed my paws for a while while we watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Then I fell asleep on Mom's feet.

Boy, did I get dirty!

Just a few days ago, I was fluffy and white and clean, but not anymore! Two days ago, I was out walking with Dad, and I went under a car. Dad tried to stop me, but I was so curious and he was carrying things, so he couldn't hold the lead tight enough. Well, I saw an opportunity to get under that parked car and see what was under there. It turns out- nothing but black, grimy grease. Lots of it! In fact, I got it all over me! I think it looks so cool! 


I have a huge splotch of black on my back and head, and it's kind of a doggie James Dean look. Like a dog that helps it's master work on cars and can fetch tools out of a toolbox. That kind of cool dog! I totally look like that now! I love it! I went home and Mom was so surprised at my new look that she covered her mouth with her hand and her eyes got real big! She tried to wash me but it's not coming off. She tried to get that black stuff off, but finally she gave up and said she'd try again in the morning. Of course, that gave me hours to spread that black stuff all over other parts of my fur, so now there are no angel-white spots of fur showing, just black, charcoal gray, and what mom calls "communist era stucco" whitish-gray.


So, apparently, mom does not like my new super-grunge look. Mom is looking into grooming services and I am going to go in for a shampoo, filthy dog clean up, and to have my hair did. Parents don't understand what's "of the moment" in doggie world. I'm just trying to make a statement. I am being an individualist using mass image conformity in a socially structured hierarchy, imbedding elements of post modern irony to state how by being part of a conformist fashion aesthetic, but aware, that I am, in a quirky way, my own person. But Mom told me her favorite look for me is "Clean, White, Dog."
*sigh* She just doesn't 'get' me.

    Since I have been on a farm with a doggie door for almost 2 years, I am not used to living in a place where I have to rely on humies to take me outside to go potty. So, my humie parents are training me and themselves to do regular potty breaks outside on a schedule so I don't pee on the floor. It's kind of hard but I am catching on! It's also hard not to wake Mom & Dad up every few minutes at night when I want to play but they want to sleep. We're working on that too. I sleep in bed with the humies sometimes but I like to bark a lot at night when humies need sleep. I want to go out and play so bad that I don't want to wait till 7 when humies get up to take me outside. So I bark a lot. So, the humies are working on a gentle method of clicker training and crate training where I have a crate, but the door is always open so I can go in and out whenever I want. This way I have my own doggie den where I feel safe and it's all mine, so I don't worry about other dogs or Bunny Thing getting into it. I have a really soft bed in it, and a piece of my favorite blue blanket, and my favorite new toy- a Kong! A Kong is this weird little thing that looks kinda like a plunger and it is hollow so my humies can fill it with treats for me to try to get out of the Kong. It's kind of hard to get treats out, but it makes me work my teeth and keeps me occupied and having fun. My humie mom fills it with low fat peanut butter and puts my favorite treat in the middle- Turkey Oatmeal Cranberry doggie biscuit in the center- then she freezes it! I play with it and squeeeeeeze it and toss it and I get some peanut butter but then, finally, I get that doggie biscuit and I am so happy I run in circles with my tail wagging. It's bliss!

My Humie Mom has been teaching me to play some game called "Tug Rope" which is where a humie holds one end of a rope and I am supposed to hold the other end in my mouth. Not sure what to do after that, but I have the hold the rope part down. She says, "Ok, brocco, now tug!" but I dunno what that means. She pets me and tells me I tried real hard anyway. I'll figure it out. We practice Humie & Dog games for 20 minutes every day, cuz doggie experts say we doggies don't have a long attention span. I like our Humie & Dog games, even if I don't know how to play them. My Humie Mom says it is nice that I do not like biting things at all, because I do not bite furniture or people or even Bunny Thing even though some doggies would totally eat Bunny Thing! How awful! I would not eat Bunny Thing- she's my friend!

Speaking of Bunny Thing, we are really starting to get along a lot better. She isn't afraid of me at all anymore and she comes up to me to chat and say hello. Sometimes we chase each other. Mostly she chases me and I let her catch me. Also, I am meeting lots of dogs in the building and making new acquaintances. Now I know Lily, and Auggie and Sophie and Jax. Jax is annoying but sometimes he is fun to play with. 

My paws are doing better. My nails are growing out. Mom doesn't let me go on the cement much yet. She wants to let the nails grow out more before I run on cement, but we run like crazy on the grass. There is a small hill that Mom & Dad have me run up so that I get good exercise. I've been running up that hill lots and guess what...? I have lost two pounds! My belly is not so round anymore and because I am steadily losing weight, I get more treats! And Bunny Thing taught me to eat apple slices, which don't look very good but they are actually pretty tasty. 

Me & Bunny Thing, plotting to take over

the world... or at least the living room.

This is my little hill. A few runs up that and I want a nap! 

It doesn't look like much to a humie but I'm little!

This is my new doggie den. The door stays open, but it is 

my personal space. That orange thing is my Kong filled 

with frozen peanutbutter!

Me & Bunny Thing

Me and Bunny Thing are getting along pretty well. For a while she was scared of me but now she knows I won't eat her and that I just want to chase and play. She is waaaay faster than me anyway. She can do hairpin turns and go under things I can't get under. She likes to taunt me sometimes, coming up behind me when I am not looking and pushing her paw on my tail. Then I spin around and she is already far away, laughing. I caught her once though! I didn't hurt her, but I caught her. Now we are having more fun because she doesn't run away just because I am in the room. She comes out and plays and I chase her and she chases me. 


I am going to have to be more careful on my front paws. My nails are really short and if I run fast on the cement outside, it wears my nails down very bad. Today I ran real fast and it was fun, but then I hurt my paw and it was bleeding. So Humie Mom doctored it up, and bandaged it and now it's ok. Except now Humie Mom makes me wear shoes! SHOES! Little blue bootie shoes. How humiliating! -sigh- But I guess that way I don't hurt my paws so much and my nails have time to grow out long so they don't wear down so easy. Bunny Thing laughs at me though. But she was nice to me when I hurt my paw, and she sniffed me and asked me how I was, without pestering me, so that's nice. It's weird having a sister.


So, I am what Humie Mom calls "chilling out" this weekend. Tomorrow the humies are having "Game Day" which is when them and their humid friends come to the house and sit around the table, and pretend they are wizards and stuff. It's called Dungeons & Dragons. Mom says I can be a "Minion", whatever that is. The cool part is that I will get to meet more humies- Humie Nathan, Humie Josh and Humie Liz. I plan to lay in my dog bed under the table... in case they spill any food.

Bunny Thing, asking if I'm OK.

This is the building I live in. So there is grass but in patches

so I need to wear shoes till my nails get stronger.

My first seizure at my new home

     This morning I had a seizure. I've had lots of seizures before but this was the first one with my new Humie Parents. I was sleeping on the bed with my humies and then that thing happens where I get real dizzy and things go all fuzzy in my eyes. Then my legs shake and twitch and I feel like my body is not connected to the ground. It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't had one before. And it's scary when it happens around people because you never know if they will be scared, or do something not very smart, or maybe think you are a freak and not like you anymore. Sometimes when animals like me have problems that humans don't think are "cute" or expected, they get real upset with the animal, and they don't really want them to be their pet anymore. That's why a lot of animals end up in shelters, like I did. So in a new place, having a seizure makes me scared, because I was worried maybe my new humies would not want me anymore. But that didn't happen at all. My humid mom and dad petted me until the seizure was over, then they put me in the bed between them and hugged me till I fell asleep with them. I snored a lot and they didn't get mad at me. I even farted, and they didn't get mad. They did say they might need to get something called a "gas mask and an oxygen tank" but they weren't mad because they were smiling and petting me. So I went to sleep and I was ok. Mom said that later, if I am feeling better, she will walk me to the park and we can sleep under a tree "like hobos." Whatever that means.

A day at the lake!

My Humie Dad & Humie Mom took me to the park where there is a small lake that humies and boogawoofs play around. There are swings and sandboxes and lots of little mini-humies playing. Some mini-humies petted me and it was fun. Humie Dad gave me belly rubs by the lake, and we had a picnic under a tree. I got to eat some roasted chicken and it was soooo yummy! Then I took a nap and then played games with another boogawoof that looks kinda like me! We walked by the edge of the lake and there are these bird things in the water that look like chickens. They're Lake Chickens! So, I had a really good time and got to ride in the car, which I like a lot too. I sit on Humie Mom's lap so I can see out the window, and I'm really good- no jumping out the window or anything. 

All that fun stuff and guess what? I have been with my new family for five days and have not had a seizure! I am really happy and getting lots of love and pets and what my Humie Mom calls SmooshyFaceLove.

Making friends and boogawoof stuff!

So, I've been in my new home for three days now and things are starting to make sense. It's all still a little confusing. I am having trouble figuring out where and when I am supposed to pee and poo. The humies take me out for pees and poos but sometimes I am nervous. Am I supposed to poo on the grass? I dunno! So I poo in the house and they give me that "oh no, you didn't" look that humies get. -sigh- I'll figure it out. But other than that, things are going really good!


I made a couple of friends! One friend is another boogawoof dog named Lily. She is a neighbor dog and her humies are friends of my humies. She is a little black and white dog. We chased each other and played with a ball and it was lots of fun! The other friend is not so much a friend... yet. I'm not sure what it is. Mom says it is a "Bunny" but I dunno what that is. I thought it was a cat at first but it has long ears. Bunny is little, and gray with shaggy fur. She is really nervous all the time and at first she wouldn't come near me cuz she thought I would eat her. I don't wanna eat her though. She's all fur.


So this Bunny lives in the house too, and she doesn't go in a cage. She goes where she wants. She likes to sleep behind the couch or on Mom's lap. Anyway, at first Bunny did not like me at all and she would thump her back feet when I walked in the room. Today she seemed to come around a little, and this morning, she hopped up to me and said hello. We're not exactly friends yet, but I think we could be someday.


Then mom showed me this:

It's kinda blurry, but that's me there, sleeping all nice and deep. 

That gray thing is Bunny, and she is licking my fur! While I am sleeping!!!

Is that cute? Or creepy?

Oh, and it isn't just me that has to learn stuff, ya know. I had to remind these humies that dogs like BELLY RUBS!!! I guess Bunnies don't like belly rubs so the humies aren't used to rubbing bellies and they forgot. Well, I reminded 'em! 

They got the hang of it. Pure dog joy.

Pictures

This is a comfy chair on the balcony where it's 

fun to snuggle.

I was pretty scared the first night, so my new mom

put me on the bed and slept real close. I kept waking up 

to see if someone was still there and I was safe, but 

every time I woke up, she was there, so it was OK.

Me, in the elevator. Gonna have to get used to going down 

in an elevator for my walks. Kind of exciting (if you're a dog.)

And Introducing Brocco-Li!

     Hi, my name is Brocco, and I am a 3 year old Bichon-Maltese doggie that just got adopted from All Creatures Great & Small rescue organization in Hollister, CA. I thought I would keep a diary of my adventures so that people can see how much fun it is to have a rescue animal, especially one with special needs. This way you can read about me, my adventures and see pictures and fun stuff. Maybe when you think of getting a pet, you will consider getting a rescue animal, or maybe donating a little money to a shelter. That would be real nice, and you'd feel real good about it too! 


Well, like I said, I am Brocco, and here's my story...


I can't remember much from when I was a really little pup, but I think my first humie bought me at a pet store. I don't think that humie was really ready to have a dog in her life because when I started having seizures as a pup, she did not take me to a vet or give me any medication. I spent a lot of time in a back yard, alone and sad. She didn't know what to do with me. So, I ended up in a shelter. It turns out, I have epilepsy. I have seizures that make me confused and scared, and I have to have medicine twice a day and be careful what I eat. That's not really hard at all, but I need humies to help me with that so I take pills on time and get the attention that I need. 

That's me, right there. Yep, that one. The cute one. 

Then this really nice couple of humies named Skip and Georgia took me in and treated me real good. They gave me love and my medicine and since they live in the country, I had lots of space to play. I didn't even mind their kitty cats! But still, it is foster care and I know that means I need a place that will be forever. My foster parents were so nice and I really like them, but it's hard to take care of lots of animals that need homes. Everyone hoped someone would come along and adopt me. Vivian from All Creatures Great & Small (that's the rescue place) was really helpful in making sure I got the help I needed. I spent 19 months in foster care, which is a loooong time! I mean seriously, look how cute I am! How come humies were scared to adopt me? I think it's because they think it will be hard to care for me. I understand, but I hope they change their minds about adopting boogawoofs like me. Oh, that's a new word I learned. My new humies say it a lot. They say a "boogawoof" is pretty much anything with more hair showing than skin, so ya know, doggies and kitties and bunnies and stuff. Boogawooooooof! 

Me, in my new Thundershirt!

So, anyway, lots of time in a foster home. Well, guess what? I GOT ADOPTED!!! I'm so happy! I met this nice couple who live in Fremont. That's near San Francisco, kinda. It's gonna be a different life and a lot to get used to, but they seem like nice humies and they say they are ready to make me part of their family. That's all I've ever wanted! So, after a couple of meetings, I went to their house... my home. Wow, that is nice to say, HOME! They have a 2 bedroom apartment in the city, which I am soooo not used to! I am used to real quiet countryside where I have a back yard, but OK. I can adapt to that. The first night there, I was pretty scared. I mean, what's gonna happen? What do I do? Where are my foster parents that I have been with for 2 years? I miss them already, and I had a hard time the first night. 


My new humies, Alec and Rowan, they took me to PetCo and let me walk in the store and pick out a jacket harness and a Thundershirt. A Thundershirt is this cloth thing kinda like a shirt but with velcro straps. It fits like it is hugging me, and when I get scared, it is nice to put on and feel secure. The jacket harness is pretty neat too. It doesn't pull on my neck, and it has glowing REFLECTORS! I look pretty styling' now! This must be how city dogs do it! And you know what? After that first night, I am feeling a bit better now. Still a little nervous, but I am getting used to this place, and I think I might just be HOME.