# Parker moseys to the lake



## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

this has to be the slowest dog in the world. It normally takes us five minutes to walk down. It took Parker almost 20. I do realize he's overweight and has a couple of bad disks in his back, so we cut him some slack and carried him back up the hill. I hope he's just slow and out of shape and not something else going on.










And this is Parker five minutes after we got home:









the reason I am so far away in the first photo is I was trying to keep up with Snorkels, who was apparently paying attention yesterday when she got her heart report, and decided to test it (and mine too).


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

Run Snorkels run!! Such cuteness! And a precious picture of tired little Parker. He probably never went for a long walk before and thought you guys were trying to kill him. 
Seriously every time I look at your signature picture I smile. I love me some Snorks!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Donna Little said:


> Run Snorkels run!! Such cuteness! And a precious picture of tired little Parker. He probably never went for a long walk before and thought you guys were trying to kill him.
> Seriously every time I look at your signature picture I smile. I love me some Snorks!


Thanks - I think she's really a cutie.

And something weird and cool is happening to her body. After she lost all the weight, she still had these large fat pads above her hips, so that made two humps like a camel - the fat pads, and then her hips. And her shoulders had fat pads on them also. Her whole body just looked kind of lumpy. I noticed today those are gone. her body looks pretty normal now and she actually looks athletic, although she still runs like a puppet with all the parts flopping.

Now Parker, he needs a little work. I figure a couple pounds will make a huge difference. he seems heavy in pounds, but also just heavy like life is heavy on him. I can really see the difference in a kibble fed dog and raw fed dog.


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

I think the lumpy fat pads are a common thing with Dachshunds and can be a little strange looking. Snorkels is like Benjamin Button and getting younger as time goes by.
I need to video my old girl Madison running. It's pitiful and hilarious at the same time. It's like all 4 legs are stiff as boards and she starts to get a bounce going like she's a car on hydraulics. Only problem is catching her in action. When she's in the mood to run it's usually fast, furious, and over within seconds. Gotta love the little old ones....


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Donna Little said:


> I think the lumpy fat pads are a common thing with Dachshunds and can be a little strange looking. Snorkels is like Benjamin Button and getting younger as time goes by.
> I need to video my old girl Madison running. It's pitiful and hilarious at the same time. It's like all 4 legs are stiff as boards and she starts to get a bounce going like she's a car on hydraulics. Only problem is catching her in action. When she's in the mood to run it's usually fast, furious, and over within seconds. Gotta love the little old ones....


Yes! It's hilarious. Sometimes i am cracking up so hard I can't even chase her down. You do videos pretty well, I wish you would get one.

Look at this photo I took today - there are no lumps on her. I mean, she actually looks sleek and her coat is shining. I am continually amazed and awed at the power of raw.


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

Dear God the cuteness!! I want to meet Snorkels! She needs her own fan club and I'll be her first member! I love your new sig picture. I can't stand it!! :bounce:


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

xellil said:


>


Come on now.. you can't have a dog that adorable and name her Snorkels... it's too much cuteness to handle!! And your sig pic is hilarious haha she's such a diva


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

Okay, you've just gotta keep that little Parker dog!!! Just look how well he has taken to your house, plus, we all here already love him to death!! 

Between Snorkels and Parker, I'm just gonna have to get me a weenie dog someday. :becky:


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

chowder said:


> Okay, you've just gotta keep that little Parker dog!!! Just look how well he has taken to your house, plus, we all here already love him to death!!
> 
> Between Snorkels and Parker, I'm just gonna have to get me a weenie dog someday. :becky:


Everyone should have a weenie dog, I have decided  however, i think you will be much happier with a fluffy dog like the Havana Silk - you gotta have the hair!!!

i would love to keep Parker. I can't find one thing about him I don't like. He's an incredibly sweet dog. Just not sure if I can afford him. If we get a job, maybe we can. He's got three bad disks in his back and I've already paid out of pocket for x-rays and medication and a vet visit. I'm sure the rescue would probably pay me back but when I talked to them about it they told me to find some old Rimadyl and give it to him and i took him to the vet on my own. Now we have follow up visits, possibly laser therapy, and if God forbid he gets an injury and needs surgery I just don't have the money.


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

xellil said:


> Everyone should have a weenie dog, I have decided  however, i think you will be much happier with a fluffy dog like the Havana Silk - you gotta have the hair!!!
> 
> i would love to keep Parker. I can't find one thing about him I don't like. He's an incredibly sweet dog. Just not sure if I can afford him. If we get a job, maybe we can. He's got three bad disks in his back and I've already paid out of pocket for x-rays and medication and a vet visit. I'm sure the rescue would probably pay me back but when I talked to them about it they told me to find some old Rimadyl and give it to him and i took him to the vet on my own. Now we have follow up visits, possibly laser therapy, and if God forbid he gets an injury and needs surgery I just don't have the money.


I can tell you a lot about bad discs in little long dogs! Get him on something with extra B vitamins, the higher the better. I had Chelsy on Dr. Foster and Smith Senior PLUS because it was the highest amount I could find. Also, Rimadyl didn't help her bad discs at all. She did much better with Tramadol and then finally a combination of Tramadol and Medicam daily. It made her like a whole new dog. But we didn't have to resort to the meds until the last 6 months. The extra B vitamins and the raw diet change helped her tremendously for over a year. 

I got Chelsy's little wheelchair from a Dachshund rescue just by putting an ad on craigslist. If he ever came down to needing that, just post an ad on Craigslist and you'd be surprised at the people who are willing to help ( I'm determined to have you keep that little boy!!).


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## BoxerParty (Nov 9, 2011)

xellil said:


> Yes! It's hilarious. Sometimes i am cracking up so hard I can't even chase her down. You do videos pretty well, I wish you would get one.
> 
> Look at this photo I took today - there are no lumps on her. I mean, she actually looks sleek and her coat is shining. I am continually amazed and awed at the power of raw.


OMG she looks AMAZING! I'm totally impressed!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

BoxerParty said:


> OMG she looks AMAZING! I'm totally impressed!


Here's her "before" photo - she was down from 18 pounds to 16 pounds here. She lost the weight, but she didn't start looking fantastic until recently, after almost a year on raw. First of all she lost most of her hair last summer right after we started raw. 

And I honestly cannot take credit for this - it's all in the food, baby!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

chowder said:


> I can tell you a lot about bad discs in little long dogs! Get him on something with extra B vitamins, the higher the better. I had Chelsy on Dr. Foster and Smith Senior PLUS because it was the highest amount I could find. Also, Rimadyl didn't help her bad discs at all. She did much better with Tramadol and then finally a combination of Tramadol and Medicam daily. It made her like a whole new dog. But we didn't have to resort to the meds until the last 6 months. The extra B vitamins and the raw diet change helped her tremendously for over a year.
> 
> I got Chelsy's little wheelchair from a Dachshund rescue just by putting an ad on craigslist. If he ever came down to needing that, just post an ad on Craigslist and you'd be surprised at the people who are willing to help ( I'm determined to have you keep that little boy!!).


I will look into all that, thanks, especially the B vitamin thing - I'm not sure he's getting that - the vet took him off the Rimadyl and put him on something that starts with a P, I forget, and that fancy glucosamine supplement that's supposed to work wonders.


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## BoxerParty (Nov 9, 2011)

xellil said:


> Here's her "before" photo - she was down from 18 pounds to 16 pounds here. She lost the weight, but she didn't start looking fantastic until recently, after almost a year on raw. First of all she lost most of her hair last summer right after we started raw.
> 
> And I honestly cannot take credit for this - it's all in the food, baby!


Physically, of course, she's looking 500% better, but for me the big difference is in her EYES - she is LIT UP from the inside! The power of a great diet and a great family! Give her a pat from me!


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

xellil said:


> Here's her "before" photo - she was down from 18 pounds to 16 pounds here. She lost the weight, but she didn't start looking fantastic until recently, after almost a year on raw. First of all she lost most of her hair last summer right after we started raw.
> 
> And I honestly cannot take credit for this - it's all in the food, baby!


Whoa, girlfriend used to be built like a school bus....


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Donna Little said:


> Whoa, girlfriend used to be built like a school bus....


Man, you give me at least three good laughs every day. I love you


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

BoxerParty said:


> Physically, of course, she's looking 500% better, but for me the big difference is in her EYES - she is LIT UP from the inside! The power of a great diet and a great family! Give her a pat from me!


I agree. It's the difference in her and Parker. She had the extra weight and so does he, but it's something more than that. Just not alot of spark.

But with Parker on raw right away maybe he'll get better faster than she did - I had snorkels for over a year before i found raw. And then it was another eight months before there was a real difference, what you said you see in her eyes now.


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

oh i do adore snorkels that fuzz on her ears is so darn cute and my goodness what a chub chub she was!! but still a doll!


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

Me too I just love that old girl. And Maddie is the same way she is always on the trot but she even gallops sometimes now. Snorkels is looking so good, and poor old Parker I hope he gets better soon and has more energy. I'm sure losing the weight will help allot.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

you're getting a lot of b vitamins when you feed pork, especially. very high in all sorts of b vitamins.

here's an example of nutrition in pork

Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Pork, fresh, shoulder, (Boston butt), blade (steaks), separable lean and fat, raw [Pork shoulder chop, Shoulder blade steak, Pork steak, URMIS #3186]

what's the fancy dancy glucosamine you speak of....

snorkels is looking very fit these days...same thing happened with my dogs...they kind of looked like suppositories for a while and now they have nice indentations...

malia still has her little pouch, but after two years, it's not so droopy anymore....

i forgot to add that parker is a keeper.....and you know as well as i do, we always find the money....


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

magicre said:


> you're getting a lot of b vitamins when you feed pork, especially. very high in all sorts of b vitamins.
> 
> here's an example of nutrition in pork
> 
> ...


That's that Dasaquin stuff i started the other thread about. I'm going to go ahead and give it to him for three weeks since i paid a fortune for it, but if his back is not better I'll do something else.

I'd probably feel better about adopting him if either one of us had a job, even a low-paying job, with insurance. It's just weird to have no income at all, only outgo. However, he's had alot of years of neglect and I would love to feed him right and see if he has the same miraculous changes Snorkels did. next time i go to the vet I'm going to ask him to check for a heart murmer. I just paid over $1000 for a cardiologist visit and i really don't want to start skimping on all dogs so each can get minimal care.

And, I'd want him to have laser therapy. I'm going to see if the rescue group will pay for it. Second to the food, that laser stuff has been a miracle also for her spine.

When we get a job with insurance and sell my house in Indiana, that changes alot of stuff. Just not sure when that will be. i do believe he deserves better than dry dog food.

Yes, that baggy skin under Snorkels belly doesn't really even show any more.


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

xellil said:


> Yes! It's hilarious. Sometimes i am cracking up so hard I can't even chase her down. You do videos pretty well, I wish you would get one.
> 
> Look at this photo I took today - there are no lumps on her. I mean,* she actually looks sleek and her coat is shining.* I am continually amazed and awed at the power of raw.


I TOLD YOU IT WOULD HAPPEN! :biggrin:. I literally tear up every single time I see sweet old Parker enjoying himself or Snorkels doing what she wasn't able to do before due to her health. Its a new lease on life! THANKS TO YOU!


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

Your pups are adorable (I just want to snuggle with Snorkels), I think my next small dog will be a dachshund, I just love my parents dog, he's one of the smartest and cuddliest dogs I've met


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Yep, you sure would not recognise Snorkles as the same dog from a year or so ago. Seriously, there is no way that dog would be alive today if it wasn't for you. She looks fabulous, she's a different dog. 
I love where you live by the way, out in the blops with no neighbours, no cars, a lake, tons of space, now you're talking!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Unosmom said:


> Your pups are adorable (I just want to snuggle with Snorkels), I think my next small dog will be a dachshund, I just love my parents dog, he's one of the smartest and cuddliest dogs I've met


He's adorable! Kind of looks like Snorkels too, only a little darker.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

MollyWoppy said:


> I love where you live by the way, out in the blops with no neighbours, no cars, a lake, tons of space, now you're talking!


It's nice but I really hate the lake. First of all they took most of my dad's land under eminent domain. And after they put it in people started moving out here. I don't take photos in the direction of the McMansions; I try to ignore them. Some of them want my spot because my house is on the tallest point in this part of the county and they'd love to be the snootiest ones looking down on their neighbors.

But, I will admit it's nice just to walk down the hill and be there - we live on a private road so hardly anyone goes down there but us. I'd give it up in a minute though if those people would all move away! I dream of winning the lottery, buying them out, and renting a giant bulldozer.


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