Author Archives: JerryLukins

Zoey and Quincy, our neighbor’s giant schnauzer, were both out this afternoon playing in the fresh we got today. They both enjoy playing with each other and have a lot of fun jumping around in circles together as you can see in the video below.

We took Zoey in for some shots last week at the pet store and the vet was listening to her heart and noticed something odd about it.  We scheduled an appointment with our regular vet and she heard something in her heart that she felt was disturbing as well.  We were referred to the OSU Vet Medical Center and took her in for her first appointment last week.  They did an ultrasound of her heart and determined that he has a condition they called Ventricular Premature Contraction (VPC).  Basically, her heart is normal and fine, the signals that tell the heart when to beat are messed up.  They will send normal heartbeat signals and then send a number of signals in rapid succession which causes her heart to temporarily go into V-Tach.  For the most part she appears normal, but we have noticed that she get’s “winded” quicker and was taking more naps than normal for her.  When she is up and around and playing she seems like a totally healthy puppy, but this condition can cause Sudden Cardiac Arrest at any time.

The vet put her on some heart medication, beta blockers, to possibly help with the erratic signals.  We took her back to the vet after a week on the medication and unfortunately they did not see any improvement.  They did start her on another medication and we need to take her back next week for another checkup to check for improvement and possibly adjust her medication again.  The vet said we are not giving up yet, but that we shouldn’t get our hopes too high as the first medication is the most successful with the least amount of side effects.

She is such a great puppy with a wonderful fun loving personality.  The breeder did all the right checks to prevent their puppies from developing issues, but sometimes no matter how much preventative checks you make, things can still not go as planned.  We want her to have the best time with us while we have her, but it looks like she won’t live to into her teens like we were hoping.

We traveled up to Michigan again to visit family that lives around Kalamazoo and family that was visiting from out of town as well. When we left Granville the temp was 58 and raining. Which is much warmer than normal. We made it up to Kalamazoo and immediately had to head over to a Christmas Party that was planned for that day. It was good seeing cousins I hadn’t seen in 2 years and seeing their kids, who have all grown a lot in two years and one we met for the first time.  It was fun catching up on what everyone had been doing over the last couple of years.

The weather turned cold again that evening so all that rain was turning to ice. Everyone made it back safe to where they needed to be, but the next morning the signs, trees and mailboxes all had ice hanging from them and looked so picturesque, like you would see in a winter painting.

The kids and their cousins went sledding the following day. Zoey went sledding for the first time as well. Everyone had a blast and I wish I would have been there to see all the fun. Nikki took some pictures though, so at least I got to see the action even I wasn’t able to be there to hear the laughter and fun.

Cousins getting ready to sled

Zoey has the stick that everyone else wants

Jonny Survived the Ride

Zoey and Toby getting ready to have an awesome time

Jonny Sledding

Zoey having a blast in the snow

Everyone ready for a downhill run?

Zoey watching all the excitement

Chris wipes out and Zoey has to make sure he is Okay

Aidan sledding with Zoey and Toby

Shortly after sledding is over

Jonny was supposed to get his braces off on the 11th, but since they had a snow day today the dentist called and switched his appointment to today.  He was fitted for a set of invisible retainers and has to wear those for several more months, but you can only see them if you look real close.  He will have a nice handsome smile for all the pictures that will be taken around Christmas in the next week or two.

We got about 5-6″ inches of snow on Saturday and Zoey really likes the snow. She asks to go out all the time to play in it and eat it. She tries to catch the snow flakes as they are falling. She also enjoys running around with the kids as they throw snow balls at her. She’s brought a few snow balls back in the house and eats up them up quickly.

We got another several inches of snow this morning and it seems to have caught all the snow removal personnel off guard as driving in this morning was a lot worse than it should have been if they had any plows on the road. The kids started off with a two hour delay that turned into a cancellation of school.

They should be able to have some fun with Zoey out in the fresh snow again today. Maybe they can take her sledding this afternoon!

We ended up travelling to Michigan for Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving day at the Barkers and then Saturday with the Lukins side. It was the first long trip with Zoey and she traveled much better than expected for a five and a half hour trip. We had a nice visit and got to spend some time with family which was nice. Zoey got to meet all the dogs and family members for the first time and swim in the lake, even though it was very cold with ice on the shore. We got back on Sunday and Monday morning we all got right back into our routines of school and work.

Nikki and Jonny headed towards Cleveland Friday after school to attend the 19th annual Ohio Cichlids Extravaganza held in Strongsville, Ohio.  It is touted as the world’s largest cichlid event. The convention was held at the Holiday Inn and it was packed with fish breeders from all over, including Europe.  A couple of the speakers came in from Europe as well, one from Denmark and another from the Netherlands. 

Jonny bought several fish and they all made it home safe.  He was still excited when they got home Saturday late afternoon and immediately started to set up a new tank he purchased before the convention to take with him. Because he is a young man in the hobby with such in depth knowledge, people kept approaching Nikki and telling her how wonderful it is to have young people so knowledgeable in the hobby and thanking her for bringing him. 

They both enjoyed the speakers who educated their attendees about habitats, genetics, and history of cichlids in the wild.  They both enjoyed their overnight trip so much they are already planning on attending next years 20th anniversary event.

The Ohio Cichlid Associations official website can be found here.

Jonny and Zoey have become best friends and you can see each of them light up when they see each other. Jonny has taken the time to play with her a lot and now you can tell she thinks of him as the fun person in the family. The rest of us do play with her and have lots of fun with her as well, but the two of them love to rough house with each other.

Zoey says, “I see you Jonny”

You can’t catch me

Jonny isn’t quite quick enough

I can be as tall as you!

Jonny catches her

Let’s go this way

Now back this way

Do you think you can get me this time?

Not quite a long enough reach