Today Chopper is Seven!!!

What a year we have had!!!  The pros were definitely getting his barking at garbage trucks under control with the help of a trainer, a clicker, treats and my awesome clicker/treat timing.  Tuesday morning walks are so much more pleasant now.  Also I finally got a portrait of Chopper done - something I have wanted since forever.  It was a birthday present from my parents and I LOVE it.  The artist was great to deal with and really captured his spirit.



Chopper's custom portrait from Lamanda Designs. 

 

But his health issues this year were definitely a bit of a wake up a call.  For months it was unclear what was wrong with him.  After four months on steroids and in and out of the vet's office every other week, we finally got a biopsy and an answer that it was Autoimmune Skin Disease which is now under control.  Before that the vets were throwing around terms like lupus, pre-cancerous, cancer, organ failure, and who knows what else - most of it was a bit too much for me and I just focused on getting him better. 

The day I picked him up after his biopsy.  I was not expecting how bad he would look. 

He's been on new medicine for almost three months now and it's been two months since he had a flare up so I am really hoping the worst is behind us.  We have a check up this weekend.

In the past I've done up some pretty fancy dog parties for Chopper but I think today I will bake him a little cake and have his best buddy Mumble over and just take it easy and enjoy the fact that we made it through this year.




Chopper's Official Seventh Birthday Photo

 

 

And because it is his birthday I let him lay on the couch for a few minutes this morning.