January 2010 Update

Happy New Year everyone!

2009 held many challenges and sad days for us but we look forward to a very happy 2010.

This year for Christmas, we headed back to Indiana to spend time with family. That meant that Addie and Finigan headed off to be boarded for a few days. It is a fairly quiet place so Addie enjoys that much more than the loud kennels she used to attend. Richard is great with them both and works with Addie and her special meals.

For the past 11 years we have debated about what other breed(s) of dog are in Addie's DNA. We know her mother was a full blooded Rottweiler but know nothing about the father. I always thought Labrador because she loves to retrieve, swim, and has webbed feet. Rob has always thought fox hound because of the shape of her hind-quarters. For Christmas, I got Rob (and me) the gift of knowing. I had Addie's DNA tested. And the results are....

Significant Rottweiler (as we already knew) and minor (very minor amounts detected with low confidence) - Cairn Terrier (AKA Toto!). That was quite the shock. We think that her dad must have been mostly Rottweiler as well and the Terrier is just somewhere down the line. Although these results were not at all what we expected it was still fun to find out.

Addie has not been doing as well as usual this past week. She has had bouts of cold paws, has been shaking, and last Saturday she fell and injured her back leg. No broken bones but we think she sprained something by falling on the ice. She is able to walk but does not put a lot of pressure on that leg. We are hoping now that the holidays are over she will get settled back into her routine and will come back around to feeling better.