Category Archives: Family Life

Ashley and Shane brought Apollo out to our house to visit and give Nikki her Mother’s Day gifts.  It only took a few minutes for Apollo to feel comfortable around Zoey and Penny.  Zoey was calm and curious about Apollo and once Penny got over her first few minutes of total jubilation, she was nice and calm around the puppy as well.  After making the mistake of getting some tennis balls out, Penny forgot about the puppy and started to play serious.  We had to remove the balls and put Penny in her crate, until she calmed down again and then this happened.

After the sudden loss of Gunter, Ashley and Shane realized their apartment didn’t feel like a home without a dog to greet them. The family searched and we found a number of prospects. Ashley contacted several breeders and finally found one that she liked. She made arrangements and her, Nikki and Stephanie drove up to Southington and meet the puppy and parents.

Ashley fell in love and brought home her new puppy Apollo.

Jonny ran at the Tri-Meet at Dublin Coffman with Dublin Coffman and Wothington Kilbourne.

Jonny was scheduled to run in the 1600 meter and the 4×400 relay.

He ran the 1600 meter and kept with the leaders for the first lap. Another runner came up from behind and took the lead and Jonny stuck with him right on his tail. Jonny started to make his move with about 300 meters and steadily picked up his pace until no one could keep up with him. He won the 1600 with a time of 4:57.7.

He was scheduled for the last race of the evening, which was the 4×400 relay. Unfortunately there was a lightning strike in the area and the meet was cancelled before he could race.

This evening we lost a family member. Our Great Dane, Gunter, passed away unexpectedly. Our family is devastated once again losing a beloved pet that quickly became a part of the family. He had a few nicknames, Goony, Goon and our favorite Puppy. It was always interesting calling for “Puppy” and watch people who have never met him react when he come prancing over.

Gunter had been living with Ashley for a couple of years now and loved the city life. Ashley asked to have him spend a week with her and he enjoyed himself so much living in the city and taking walks where everyone seemed to be be attracted to him. He loved being the center of attention. He always thought of Ashley as “his girl”. Nikki and I would go to visit after he was living with her and he would be very excited to see us and so happy to spend time with us. But, when we were putting our shoes and coats back on, he would would walk behind Ashley as if to say, please let me stay another night. A couple of times he had to spend the night with us because Ashley and Shane were going to visit family. He was always happy to come in an greet us, but when Ashley and Shane were leaving, he made it obvious that he was supposed to go with them. The country life is no place for a Great Dane that craves attention everywhere he goes in the city!

He had a wonderful last day going for walks and playing around with Shane and Ashley. He always had his own bed and would get extra excited when he was getting his sheets on the bed changes out for fresh ones. Ashley and Shane just purchased him a bed, so he had a place to hang out with them on the porch. He always prized his beds and bedding more than any toy.

Stephanie and Marcus are attending the Granville High School 2014 Prom this evening. We had to rush back from Lexington where Jonny had a track meet earlier today. Nicole and Stephanie went out this morning and picked up the boutonniere for Marcus. Stephanie had to go on her own to get her hair and make-up done as Nikki and I were on our way to Lexington for the track meet.

Nikki was able to make it just in time for pictures at the Bryn Du Mansion in Granville. The kids were going out to dinner after pictures and then back to the mansion for prom.

I bought a GoPro HD camera last week on Woot.com for about $50. It was delivered yesterday and was able to use one of the mounts to attach it to an extra dog collar we have.

This morning I thought I would give it a try and experiment with it on a walk with Zoey, while Penny was downstairs “helping” Nikki with laundry.

The camera just hangs from the collar and bounces around while Zoey is running, so the video isn’t that great, but it still gives you an idea of what it’s like on a walk for Zoey. Here is the video from walk.

Zoey is no longer the only puppy in the house anymore. We picked up one of her litter mates after she was returned due to too much energy. Stephanie has named her Penny and it seems to work and she responds well to it.

Here is a video we took when they meet each other again after being separated as puppies.

Zoey is a little bent out of shape that this other puppy, even though it’s her sister, has come into our house and plays with all of HER toys.

Penny was nervous at first but is acclimating very well and quickly. She is a quick learner like Zoey and right now is the more timid of the two. Most likely because Zoey is more confident in her own home.

She slept with Stephanie in her bed the first night and it went so well that it appears Stephanie want’s her to sleep with her from now on.

They are starting to settle into each other and play all the time together. They really do keep each other entertained.

Nikki and I are both happy to have two dogs back in the house since Gunter has chosen the city life with Ashley.

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