Godspeed, Mariah 2-15-14

 

Yesterday we lost one of the cornerstones of our house, Miss Mariah.  She lived life with total bully flair, throwing her 23 pounds around and keeping everyone in line.  Ever wonder why they call mean kids on the playgrounds bullies?  Try living with one - lol.  And it is because of her sassiness, we would not have traded her for the world.

Years ago, Mariah had a difficult surgery and almost didn't survive it.  This resulted in the progression of health issues which were eventually diagnosed as auto-immune issues.  At the height of her illness, she had lost big patches of fur, and her body had pustules all over it.  All in all, she was attended to by 7 vets, one of which admitted that he eventually had to put down his own dog who had dealt with the same thing.  So we knew we were in for a real challenge, but on our journey, we found Dr. Susan Rogers Swaney and she turned the tide.  We literally dealt with this for years, and were so happy to see her finally looking so good.  In the end, she had fur all over her body again, except for a patch on the back that was in the final stages of getting ready for fur to grow. 

On our vacation to Maine

Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, we somehow picked up the mystery illness that is going around this region of the US.  Three of our adults became ill, but two recovered quickly.  Mariah, however, wasn't so lucky.  It hit her hard and heavy.  We had a lot at out disposal - iv fluids, anti-nausea, anti-biotics, colloidal silver, Waiora NCD and Agarigold, and Parvaid.  But her body just was too weak to battle the virus. 

Spiritual:  There was something good that came out of her final days, though.  We were together 24/7 and had lots of good talks.  She became melancholy at one stage, and we worked through the questions/issues that she brought up.  In conversing with one of my very talented friends, Julie picked up on more.  She said that Mariah's issues extended well beyond this lifetime.  Mariah had lived a life as a puppy mill dog and had problems with puppies there, as well.  I would highly recommend Julie Snouffer for consulting and her fees are very reasonable.  And I am forever thankful for that information because it really opened up the door for total healing for Mariah.

Armed with this information, I talked to Mariah about that lifetime.  The word "useless" kept flashing like a neon sign while we were talking about her life then.  Not only did she not produce a living litter of puppies, but once she showed the slightest medical problem, she was "thrown away."  She didn't specifically say that she was killed, but that was the impression I was left with.  I promised her she would never be thrown away by me.  At that point, I still had hopes she could pull through. 

In this lifetime, she was purchased as a foundation bitch for a line of frenchies.  But we were unsuccessful in that venture.  And the health issues she experienced would have sent most people running and screaming (not that I didn't do my fair share of crying, feeling helpless from time to time).  From the outside, considering the purpose she was bought for, she was "useless."  But never, ever did that thought enter our minds.  She was valued for her personality, and for all that she added to our pack.  I am so happy to have known her and lived a life with her.  And in the pure experience of living our lives together, with her conditions pushing the bounds of what most people would be willing or capable of handling, we found our healing.  She was valued and treasured, and she was not thrown away.  And she passed knowing that she is loved, and to a great extent, it nullified the negative experience of the other lifetime.  Julie also helped me with some processes to clean up her energy, to finish the healing process, and clear the way so that Mariah doesn't have to carry this with her into any other lifetimes.

As it became apparent that she was not going to make it, we discussed whether or not she had any preferences for what happened to her body after her passing.  She had enough of the chills with this harsh winter and this illness, so the thought of being in the cold, hard ground was too much for her, even though she wouldn't be in that body.  So we settled on cremation.  Around this time, my friend Rosemary became aware of Mariah's situation and she sent tons of healing Mariah's way and the effect was noticeable.  What a relief to have the contributions of healers everywhere helping her on her journey.

Turns out that Littleton & Rue Funeral Home does pet cremations, and will even come to pick them up under certain circumstances.  Within a couple of hours of her passing, the funeral home sent out a black limousine hearse to pick her up.  A man in a black suit and a beautiful black wool coat drove it and took very good care of her.  I'll give her that - girlfriend sure did go out in style!  I hope she was still looking down so she could enjoy the moment. 

The heart still hurts, and her absence is vividly felt, but I am also immensely grateful for the intimate conversations and understandings that we had at the end.  It is a true blessing when you get the answers to some of the "why" questions in life.  I wish Miss Mariah a wonderful, perfect, loving, and healthy life next time around.  She deserves it!

The thing I'll miss the most are those ears of hers.  They were like antennae.  You'd see them peep up over the edge of the sofa, around furniture, around doorways, and only if the ears thought it was worth the effort would you see the rest of her.  Cracked me up every time.

For Tony, she was his boxing buddy.  Whenever he started to play with any dog, she was front and center, taking on the fight, boxing and barking.  And if he'd pretend to shoot her and say bang, she'd throw herself down on her back (as long as she was on the soft sofa).  They both LOVED that game.

Little Elvis

Little Elvis' older sister gave him a playful little shove and it gave our little guy a bit of a fracture.  Hasn't slowed him down one bit, though!  He is still a little terror!  Let's just hope he can keep this splint on long enough to help him heal properly!  Symphytum on the way!

More scrapbook pages of my favorite subjects :)

More doggie scrapbook layouts!  :)

Velvet & siblings

Velvet

Velvet

Rizzo/Lilah

Isabelle's pups

Velvet

Daisy

Velvet's brother

Isabelle's pups

Velvet

Isabelle

Konda

Rizzo

Isabelle's pups

Isabelle's pups

Velvet, Daisy, Rizzo

Isabelle's pups

Beat Cancer!

So many friends and family have lost those they love to cancer.  And as though the loss of life were not bad enough, you have the cancer society and the AMA in a racket to suppress many effective treatments that are out there, or make them sound less than effective because Big Pharma can't make money off of them.  So this blog post is to share some of the real life examples of how people have beat cancer and also to lead interested parties to resources where they can begin more research.  These are not the only "cures" but they are well worth investigation and most can even be used preventatively with other side benefits.  I am not a doctor, I have not had to fight cancer.  But I am simply sharing information about products that other people have used to bring their bodies back into health.

1.  ANN FRAHM - A CANCER BATTLE PLAN

After two years of fighting cancer, her body was ridden with it and she was left to die in hospice when she ran across some information on the link between cancer and nutrition.  Five weeks later, she was cancer free.  The plan her nutritionist mapped out for her was in such high demand when people heard her story, that they wrote a book and she frequently lectures today.  Although much of what I learned from her lecture has faded from memory, I do recall that juicing was a critical part of the process.  Intact enzymes from raw fruits and vegetables are priceless for your body's ability to fight off this disease.

A Cancer Battle Plan by Anne Frahm

Description taken from the back of the book: By the time Anne Frahm found out she had cancer, it had already spread from her breast to her shoulder, ribs, skull, and pelvic bone, and had eaten a stress fracture into her spine. Like most victims of the disease, her first response was to pursue all the traditional treatments-surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But the end result turned out to be just another hopeless prognosis: The disease was still present in her bone marrow. It seemed a matter of time before her 35 year old body would succumb. Thats when Anne discovered the connection between cancer and nutrition. Carefully researching the medical basis of her discovery, she formulated a comprehensive nutritional battle plan. Within five weeks of implementing her plan, a balanced program of detoxification and diet, her cancer disappeared without a trace. She has been cancer-free ever since.

There are also books and workbooks associated with this listing, so be sure to check them all.

2.  ESSIAC TEA

A friend introduced me to Essiac Tea and it's many uses and restorative functions.  It is truly amazing and achieved high acclaim for its use in cancer before you weren't allowed to make claims not approved by the FDA.  It has been known and used since the 1800's and there are many sites on the internet with information.  It is also frequently called 4-Herb tea.  My friend did extensive research on suppliers, their methods of raising the crops that go into the formula, etc., and his endorsement goes to http://www.ojibwatea.com/.  We have not tried any other, but are very happy with the products that they sell.  It is also highly effective in arthritis, even severe cases of arthritis.  This is a great general detoxifier to use for general maintenance of the body and when the dosages are increased, then it is helpful for the more serious maladies and works for dogs, too!  Many people have noticed reductions/disappearances in not only tumors, but also fatty tumors and cysts as the body detoxifies and eliminates what is not good for it.

3. DR DAY - CANCER DOESN'T SCARE ME ANYMORE

Dr. Day was another influential story on my path of learning and understanding.  Often, it's easy to say this or that will cure cancer, but when a person actually has a huge lump growing on their chest that is red, angry, inflamed, and aggressive, the first tendency would be to cut it out and then deal with the health of the body afterwards.  That this Doctor put her actions where her beliefs were is truly amazing to me and her story is impressive.  She shares pictures on her website, and sells a book that has the answer to how she treated her body to rid if of cancer.


4.  DR LEONARD COLDWELL

Just Like Sugar is Kosher has a page on their website referencing a 4-part radio interview on Coast to Coast radio with this fascinating doctor.  You can save the .mp3 files to listen to later, but please take the time to listen to these.  This doctor has a 92+% cure rate for cancer; the only people he can't save have been too ravaged by chemo and/or radiation to be able to turn their health back around.  There are some valuable keys to a happy and healthy life within these recordings.  Dr. Coldwell is a best-selling author with 19 books under his belt.  I love listening to someone talk about their passion - someone who has been there, done that.  Who has a true understanding of how things work in the body.  And the recordings are free!!

5.  WAIORA NATURAL CELL DEFENSE AND AGARIGOLD

I saved the best for last.  If someone needs something right now, if they are looking for their miracle, or even something to take while researching other options, then this is where to start.  Waiora makes some wonderful products and the Natural Cell Defense (NCD) is a tremendous detoxifier and the agarigold aids the immune system.  Between the two of them, I have heard numerous people who have been given very short life expectancies and their issue was resolved in a (relatively) very short time.  My acquaintance, Marcy, had stage 4 malignant melanoma of a very aggressive nature and had exhausted all resources to resolve her cancer when she found this product.  She went from a death sentence to hope in 3 days of aggressive dosing, and a cancer-free declaration in 30 days.  Personally, I've used NCD to detox after mandatory rabies shots with my dogs.  Oddly enough, I've heard many success stories of resolving cancer in people's bodies in less time than it takes to detox from a single vaccination - food for thought. 

There are so many more options out there, and pH balance of the body also plays a huge role in allowing/disallowing degenerative illnesses into the body.  But there is hope.  There are so many success stories out there and it just boggles my mind that someone would prefer to try chemo or radiation before trying something that won't hurt the body but might very well help the body recover and heal. 

EIGHT WEEKS!! Woohoo!!

Made with Practically Perfect by LDrag Designs to be released soon at gingerscraps.com

It's a beautiful day in the House of Briarwood!  The pups turned 8 weeks old yesterday - hard to believe!!  I should have planned a birthday party!  But they had lots of fun as some prospective parents came to visit and the babies got to play till they collapsed :)

So let's go back to where we left off.  With several trips to the vet, with homeopathy, tinctures and a few tricks up my sleeve, the pups came through their rough spot with no more than loose stools.  It was such a critical time - they could have turned for the worse at any moment, so there were many sleepless nights and lots of emotional strain making sure that we stayed on top of it, getting them appropriate treatments.  I'm soooo relieved that we are on the other side of all of that now. I think the problem was worms that the wormer wasn't getting.  But one never knows with little ones - the best we can do is run tests and take our best guess.  Thank goodness natural medicine treats the body, not just the symtpoms, and gives them what they need to recover, covering a multitude of maladies.

And in all this, of course, I lost little Gable.  Followed by the intense time I had to take for the pups so I didn't lose anymore, and so close to the heels of Mohawk, I just didn't have it in me to try to communicate with him to find out why.  I wanted to, I just... couldn't.  So a dear friend and talented animal communicator was going through my facebook album and she tuned into him for me.  She discovered that his incarnation was an oops of sorts.  He really wanted to be incarnated as a big dog, so being the smallest in a pack of toy dogs just wasn't going to cut it, no matter how big they are in personality.  So back he went for an upgrade.  Personally, I thought he made a most awesome and excellent pug!    His handsomeness inside and out will be missed and I wish him well on his journey.  The sad times are definitely made easier knowing that their spirits live on. 

Raising the pups so excluded has had its benefits and disadvantages.  There was one day that they found they could go under the bed, under the end table, under the curio cabinet and poop where I couldn't reach it.  So down came the whelping pen and the room got a bit of re-arranging so I could get back there and clean.  Then, of course, with the secret hideout being exposed, it wasn't fun anymore, so they went back to the puppy pads.  Silly kids....

But the largest disadvantage is socialization.  In the living room, even in the ex-pen, the exposure to all the dogs and people coming and going really gave them a lot more socialization than I realized.  I took Reba and Asher to the office the other day with me and Asher did ok, but Reba was so scared!  So I've been starting to take them to the office more, and we have a couple of playdates lined up with neighbors to get them out into the world in a safe environment where they still are around Isabelle and me and can experience life with their bodyguards near them.  This will help them when they go to their new homes, to know that they can be in a new place and it doesn't have to be a scary thing.  All pups will go through a time of adjustment, but pugs are so great at settling in and taking ownership of their new people and new homes!

Now yesterday when the whole pack went to the office, they had a blast!  They played hard and napped hard!  They had special visitors and made good use of the extra laps.

And my favorite moment of the day - when Rocky FINALLY came to a stop.  He just collapsed and went from total energy to a puddle of black fur - he entertained us all!  Don't worry,  his new dad scooped him up and made him more comfortable - lol.

And in other news, the pups had their 8-week checkup on Friday and they all got two thumbs up!  Well, Mystery got one thumb up - she has a little bit of eye bugars going, but nothing that won't clear right up with a dab of silver.  But the vet checked them from head to toe, including their joints, and we picked up their first set of shots to bring home with us, and now it's time to find them homes! 

If you are looking to add a pug to your home, we are going to be placing 1-2 more puppies from this litter, and we also have a 4-month old awesome little black girl as well as two adult males for placement.  There might be one more litter on the way, but after that, the two remaining girls are getting spayed and I plan to retire from breeding pugs.  I love them, we have some great dogs/lines, but it is a lot of work for the body and the heart, and they've worn me out!  Now I just want to sit back and love on them without heat cycles and sleepless nights. 

I'll still have puppies in my life because my friend, Tony, will still be doing the shepherds, but I'm here to tell you - there is nothing like a pug puppy.  Shepherd puppies bite you, pug puppies LOVE you.  So I've been concentrating very much on living in the now, and enjoying each and every moment of these babies and I thank all of you for joining me on my journey!

briarwoodpups@yahoo.com

Pups Holding Strong

I don't consider the wee ones out of the woods yet, and no one has had a poo that makes me jump up and down with joy, but they are eating, eliminating, playing, and wreaking havoc like normal puppies.  In addition to the vet-recommended Albon, I think that the Wrm Clear by HomeoPets has played an important role.  I finally caught a stool sample this morning that wasn't ground into a puppy pad, so I'll drop that by and see what they find out. 

Asher (whose new name is Ziggy, chosen by his parents! :) has been our resident puffalump, very mild-mannered, and belly always full.  Well, this week he's been playing more and more, and I think the space to investigate and see what else is going on has him up and about more so he's actually getting a sleek body.  No longer can I look down and tell it's him immediately - lol.  Everyone develops in their own time, in their own way, although they all follow the general guidelines for development.

With keeping a close eye on the pups, when I hear a noise, of course I investigate immediately.  So one day Rocky whimpered a puppy sound and I came running to see what it was.  What?  I can make her magically appear?  So then later he came over to the side of the bed and looked up and whimpered.  Poof!  I popped my head over the edge and like an elevator, he was transported to the top of the bed for extra snuggles.  So now he knows that anytime he comes up and demands it, he gets some loving and playing (and some medicine, but I won't remind him of that part).  So far he hasn't abused his new-found puppy powers, but I'm sure that day will come soon :)

Baby Rocky

So now Bella has picked up on the advantages of the cute puppy whine and when she hears Rocky pulling out his moves, she high-tails it over to the side of the bed, throws down her own puppy beat, and also gets magically transported.  She thinks that is sooooo cool.  Last night when she got up on the bed, she got some medicine, then to my surprise, she snuggled down in beside the quilt I'm working on and took a long nap!  I could get used to that!  :) 

Baby Bella

Next will be Reba, I think.  So far, she comes running, too, and then watches the other two get picked up, then she's soon to follow, but she hasn't come on her own and whined yet.  Not far behind!

Baby Reba

Let's see... Asher's phots were posted yesterday, so we're just missing Mystery.  She's been sleeping quite a bit, and grumpy when I wake her, or she's trying to follow me out the door on my way to work, so I haven't been able to snap as many of her, but here she is planting herself on the top of my head for a nap.  Pug owners - look familiar??  She OWNED my pillow.  She's a natural!

Baby Mystery

Hopefully I'll have more good news for you soon!!

Puppy Update - what week is this, anyway?

We've been through thew ringer the past two weeks.  I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up on the posts.  I tried writing this blog post earlier and people have seen it, but it was hard to write and a task I was not looking forward to, so it came off as cavalier, but my feelings are anything but.  I lost little Gable on Friday night when symptoms appeared suddenly - vomitting, diarrhea, fever, and despite my best efforts, he didn't make it through the night.  We were back at the vet's office Saturday (yesterday) and we couldn't come up with a stool sample so that they could figure out exactly what it might be, so they sent me home with Albon just in case it was coccidia since I had already covered the bases the days preceeding with panacure.  I have consulted, researched, prayed, read, brainstormed, even dowsed for answers for these little ones - my passion for them stops at nothing.  I have some miracle working products in my pockets from previous litters and we added another homeopathic remedy yesterday that seems to have really helped the others - they were starting to show diarrhea, but none of the others have had the fever/shaking that Gable did, and they seem (knock on wood) to be on the other side of it now.  I am keeping a very close eye on them and have not left them all weekend for longer than it takes to do a quick chore like laundry.  They are getting albon, homeopathy, parvaid and colloidal silver.  Albon is for potential coccidia, homeopathy to treat the whole body, parvaid for digestive distress, and colloidal silver to negate any potential bacterial/viral/protozoa issues. 
For those who don't know, Parvaid became well-known for an effective treatment of parvo.  However, given its unique formula, it is beneficial for parvo imitators, i.e. anything that has to do with vomitting and diarrhea.  So when the tummy is upset for any reason, Parvaid is one of the first things I grab. Won't have a litter or a puppy without keeping some on the shelf!

As far as daily life with the pups goes (and trying to not talk about something so depressing), we've had an interesting evolution.  Usually I have a crate set up downstairs surrounded by an exercise pen and their little area is all contained and easily managed.  But there is a shepherd downstairs and so this litter, I'm raising in my room so she doesn't try to steal them.  Insane, I know, but curiously interesting.  Thank goodness I have hardwood floors :)  Like the fact that every time one of them would get loose from the puppy condo area I made for them here (couldn't fit the ex-pen there, so had to make do with some creative engineering which didn't work quite as well), they would run around the loveseat, around the bed, to the opposite corner of the room and get under my dresser and poop.  This did two things - it encouraged me to proceed with my long-awaited project of hanging my power strip up on the wall and cleaning up my cords so that they were no longer under the dresser.  And it made me curious what they would do if they had free reign of the room.  Much to my surprise, I have removed their barriers and they will sleep on the softest surface available (which happens to be in their crate) and I put a puppy pad under the dresser and they have used it consistenty.  I'm very surprised!!  The good news for me is that they have been extremely easy to clean up after by going potty in the same spot, but the bad news for you new owners is that they might try to find a similar hiding spot till they're house-trained!!  I never imagined that pug puppies could be so potty-responsible when given so much room!

Here is a puppy pile picture from today when they took over the comforter I had tossed on the floor to be taken to the laundry room. 

The pups got to play with some little girls today.  Their favorites were Rocky and Asher because they were the ones who took their loving for the longest time - lol.  I wish I had some pics but was without my camera for a few minutes.   

As far as their development goes, this is the time when they're supposed to be introduced to all sorts of surfaces and environments.  If you have a dog planned for service dog, now is when you'd take them on an elevator or other things that might cause fear as an adult.  The general rule of thumb is 7 surfaces by 7 weeks.  Normally gravel is one of those surfaces, but with the snow and frigid temps, that's out of the question and I'm trying to think of other odd surfaces in the house to put them on.  I've been challenging them with climbing on/over things, like the comforter on the floor.  Some say to make their food a light challenge.  Don't just plop a food bowl in front of them, but do something easy like they have to crawl over something to get to it, or put a paper plate over it that they have to knock off - just something easy that prevents immediate/instant gratification and both makes them think a little and gives them a second to get to it.  They say that this simple exercise prevents food aggression in adults.  I think free-feeding prevents food aggression, but I've never raised a food aggressive dog, so I'm not sure what makes them that way other than obviously if a dog is put in a survival situation or is a stray for a while.

We've been keeping up on the nail trims, but pug eyes are always susceptible to being scratched.  And when you have this many in a litter, we're bound to see a scratch before they go home.  I had what I thought was my first eye scratch last night.  Mystery squinted her right eye, so with my ninja-like reflexes, I grabbed her up, flushed out her eye with colloidal silver and put a dab of antibiotic eye ointment in.  I did it so fast, she didn't even have time to argue with me.  But she did blink at me like "what the heck just happened here?" and I realized I might have over-reacted.  I think she just had some dust or something in her eye.  But better safe than sorry!!

I'm bound and deterined to take new pics of the pups today, but to tide you over till I get them taken and downloaded, here is a photo series from Asher.  You can tell he was protesting when I put him on his back!

P.S.  I look it up and we're 6 weeks old today!!