Cemil Meets New Folks

Brevity challenge–thoughts in six words.

Eleven start and we were late.

Met Travis Ray and pawrents leaving.

Tani behaved herself nicely as usual.

Cemil circulated and met new friends.

Snuggling the wet dog–he’s okay?

Passersby stopped to learn about Tripawds.

Dog talk, dog play, happy pawrents.

Try Maggie’s RuffWear harness on Cemil!

Looks like he’s laughing with us.

Mudpuddles made the best resting places.

We missed our buddy Caira Sue.

Video of Cemil “on a mission”:

One whole year!  I remember a year ago–Cemil had been limping for about 3 weeks.  I tried to treat him with rest and finally took him to the vet, on Thursday,  January 15th.  They couldn’t find any problems so they decided to x-ray his leg.  I had to wait in the lobby area.  Dr Montoya came out and invited me to come in to an examining room where she told me that she had some bad news.  She said that when they tried to position Cemil’s leg to get a good shot, he screamed.  That was her first clue that this was not something simple.  The x-ray showed the distinctive sunburst and thin thumbprint, which she showed me, and she told me what it meant.  I was in shock.  He was only 3 years old and had been in very good health.  All I could think was that I was going to have to put him down, and soon.  As I was trying to gain control of myself, Dr Montoya told me that amputation was an option that I shouldn’t rule out.  She told me to do some research, that she’d be back in the office on the following Tuesday and I could let her know then what I wanted to do.  I found Tripawds and decided to go ahead with the amputation and hope for another 6 to 8 months with my boy.  Thinking about his fourth birthday in October made me cry every time because I doubted he’d make it there, although I never let on to him.  And now look!  It’s one year later and he has no signs of metastasis that anyone can find.  God has surely blessed me!

Since Cemil’s favorite thing to do is meet new people, he celebrated by doing just that.

Day 1:  Go to work with Mom.

The Boss, Fariborz, likes dogs and offered Cemil a piece of bread–the only thing in the refrigerator that he might like (olive bread–a favorite of Fariborz too).

Cemil stationed himself where he could keep an eye on all comings and goings, and snoozed while we worked.

Then, he decided that Fariborz’ office was where the action was.  Or was he hoping for another piece of olive bread?

Mom thought that the purple pimp hat was a must to end the day.  Cemil doesn’t seem to agree.

On Day 2, Wednesday, Cemil had to stay home because Mom goes places he can’t go.  Her friend Ginger came over and congratulated Cemil, which made up for it somewhat.

We had chicken and spinach with yogurt sauce for dinner, and Cemil enjoyed it all.

On Day 3, Thursday, Cemil had an appointment for a check-up with Dr Williams at Bishop Ranch Vet Center.  Dr Williams took over his care after he’d healed up from the surgery.  She’s the one who recommended the Hoxsey-like Formula and the ImmPower; she also put him on Vitamins A&D.

"Is there a needle in your hand??"

Dr Williams took him around to see everybody in the back (and trimmed his nails), and then the front desk people gave him treats.

And then the celebration had reached the end of its three days.  Let’s see…lots of new people, lots of treats, people-food for dinner…Cemil is happy.  Mom is happy too.

This wasn’t a good weekend for going places.

Mom is doing boring computer work, nobody feels like playing…

It’s her birthday today but she worked anyway.  Her friend came over and made Mujde bark and we didn’t know until she got home, but she got flowers for her birthday.  That must be a people thing.  They don’t even smell like something good to eat.

Happy Birthday Mom!

The good part was, we got our dinner early.  See that pill on top?  It’s my mushroom pill and I swallowed it all by myself.

I think when we get finished on this computer, we’ll snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie.  That’s a different kind of fun than going to the Dog Park, but I like it just as well.  Maybe next weekend the weather will be a little better and we can go meet some new people.  I’ll let you know.

Cemil

Cemil was a “good gift” from the beginning.  When Zeki died, none of the dogs in rescue would work well with the group I had, so I decided to get a puppy from the breeder Zeki had come from.  I called her and she was going to be breeding her Emi, whose mother was Zeki’s mother, but Emi had tried a couple of times before and it hadn’t worked.  This was her last chance.  The daddy has a pretty well-known father–Cemil’s grandfather is Gerlach Beau.

Emi and True on "the day"

There were puppies!  Three females and two males,  but they were all reserved.  One of the people who had reserved a male didn’t respond to Linda’s email, so I got his spot.  Even though I had wanted a female, Linda said, “If anyone can make this work, you can”, so I said okay to a male.

The boys: Cemil has his nose against the dish

Linda chose my puppy for me.  I went up to meet him when he was 5 weeks old.

so it's This One!

at about 6-1/2 weeks, first collar

Then he’s home…

Linda said she chose him for me because when the puppies would play and sometimes hurt each other, this one never got mad.  She thought he’d do well with another big male dog.  She was absolutely right!

4 months old--not quite grown into his feet

with his childhood hero -- another Max

all grown up, has found his forever place

Cemil would like you all to meet his family because they’re a really cool group.  He came to live with us at 8 weeks old, sent by his Uncle Zeki who had passed away earlier that year.

Radzi had come to us to be a buddy to Zeki, a sighthound big enough for an Anatolian to play with.  It wasn’t to be.  Zeki had to watch over us in the spirit realm, and he sent his nephew Cemil (whose name means “a good gift”), to watch here.  Radzi is a Chart Polski, the Dog of Kings in old Poland.  I picked him from the litter a few days after his birth–I knew he belonged with me.

Radzi looks like his mother, Ambra

The black spot on his side is in the shape of a heart

At 2 months old, he looks so little in Alle's bed

Alle is the other dog, a 14-year old yellow lab with a little bit of red chow.  I think she has contributed a lot to the even tempers of Radzi and Cemil since she was there when they were babies and had some influence over them.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Alle, with the daughter of a friend of mine.  Alle is always happy.

Bringing up Radzi

Checking out the new puppy, Cemil

This is Alex, Cemil's best cat buddy.

The group stayed the same for a couple years, then I saw a notice of an Anatolian Shepherd needing a forever home, and Mujde came to live with us.  She traveled from Texas in a livestock trailer with some goats and miniature horses. Cemil took to her almost immediately even though she thought (for a little while) that she’d like his Top Dog position.  They spend a lot of time together.

So now  you’ve met Alle, Radzi, Mujde and Alex.  There’s just one more critter living with us, and that’s Whidbey.  Cemil watches over him, too.

Today was Another Wonderful Dog Park Day!  We got a late start, and by the time we got there, Cemil was pretty excited.  On the path walking in, as we got closer, he got happier.  Max and Linda and Di and John were there, and we also greeted (and Radzi leaned on) all our regular friends.  Then, all the dogs were over getting treats from someone–it was Bob!  He and Emily came by and Spirit Cherry was very much with them.

Here’s a picture of our sparkler Caira Sue

waiting for the tennis ball.

Adam and Mary had brought birthday party bags and hats, and there were lots of goodies.  Whatever Radzi let drop, Shelby was happy to clean up.  Cemil went around meeting people and spending time with them, and Radzi ran a lap around our section of the park.  Too bad he got in trouble for chasing the little dogs and had to have a time-out on his leash.  There were lots of dogs there today even though it was cold–by California standards.  There was even another Anatolian Shepherd–a pretty girl who caught Cemil’s eye for a moment.

Here is a tired Cemil, with his new toy.  Thank you, Adam and Mary.

"Too much playing wears a guy out"

Radzi was tired too.  Here he is with the party hat that Adam made.  Really, Radzi is the one having a birthday tomorrow.  He’ll be 5.

"Don't make me wake up"

As someone always says, just standing around watching dogs play is most relaxing and enjoyable.  I’d add…and addictive.  We can’t wait for next time.

Hello World!  After we discovered at the Mill Valley Dog Park Tripawds Pawties that Cemil really enjoys going places and meeting people, it became my resolution to give him that pleasure more this year.

On Saturday, Jan 2nd, we headed up to the Sierra Foothills to visit Dawn and Raven and meet with their veterinarian for a quick checkup.  Cemil’s buddy Alle went along.  We had to drive right at the speed limit (or reasonably above) the whole way in order to make the appointment with Dr. Tom.  Dawn and Raven met us there and shared our group appointment.  Dr. Tom examined Cemil and x-rayed him, then examined Alle and Raven, then let us see the x-rays with him.  No lung mets!!!!!  He gave us a copy of the file to take to our vet in the Bay Area.

Then we went to Dawn and Raven’s house where Alle made herself comfortable on Betty’s bed after drinking all of Betty’s water, Betty got a little snack in her crate and Raven and Cemil joined Dawn and me in the kitchen for lunch. We had a wonderful pot luck meal and a bottle of Sierra Foothills wine.  And then, the highlight of the day (not counting the x-ray)–we got to meet Billy Bob the bobcat!  What a love.  Cemil didn’t get to go into the enclosure, but Billy Bob head-butted him through the fence.  It was a friendly gesture.  We also met all the other critters in Dawn’s care and got a tour of the farm.  Thank you Dawn for your wonderful hospitality!

Tired, we headed home right in the middle of some I-80 post-holiday traffic which delayed our homecoming until about 8 pm.  I wish I could say the day ended there–the “starting the year right” part did, but there’s more.  Dawn had given me some Rimadyl for Alle, and when I went in to post about Cemil’s good news, somebody got into the baggie. When I went into the kitchen a few minutes later, it was torn up on the floor– no tablets anywhere.  I suspected Radzi was the culprit and so after talking to Dawn and trying to make him vomit, we went to the emergency vet.  They were able to succeed in getting him to empty his stomach, but nobody (and three people checked) could see any evidence of the Rimadyl tablets.  Back home we went to get the other two suspects, Cemil and Mujde.  With their unpronounceable names, they became Chuck and Molly for that visit.  Neither of them produced any evidence of the Rimadyl tablets, so all three were treated as if they’d eaten all 10 and we got home at 2 am with six bottles of pills, two for each, and a prescription for two more.  This morning all seems to be normal except we’d like to have gotten a little more sleep.

So, added to Cemil’s list of favorite people are Dr Tom and his staff.  Next weekend we’re looking forward to another Northern California Tripawds Pawty at Mill Valley Dog Park, where there will no doubt be more people to meet, and favorites to greet.  And maybe, just maybe, the camera will be working!