Cutest Mutt!

Ladies and gentleman....I'd like to announce the "Cutest Mutt" 2012....Millie Lindquist!  As most of you probably already know (thanks to Facebook), I entered Millie into a local contest for "Cutest Mutt."  The Champaign County Humane Society holds an event every year called Mutt Strut.  The event is held at a local park and they have a ton of really fun things for people and dogs to do -- a big group walk around the park, lure course racing, paw painting, and a couple of cute contests (cutest butt wiggle, best kisser, pet and owner look-a-like, and finally cutest mutt).  A few weeks ago I submitted her photo into the contest and asked friends and family to vote for her.  The top five vote getters would have their pictures displayed at the Mutt Strut.  Each picture would have a donation jar, and whoever earned the most money wins.  All donations went directly to Champaign County Humane Society (where I adopted Hallie from).  So, I felt fine with soliciting loved ones for votes.  

We had some stiff competition with one other dog, a really cute Corgi named Channing.  Channing was there, so it's hard not to vote for the cutie that you see walking around.  I decided to leave Mil at home for a couple of reasons -- 1.  I suspected most dogs would be very excited & most owners distracted, so the chances of a non-friendly dog encounter were high.  2.  She's still immunodeficient from chemo, and there is no way to tell the health histories of these dogs. 

At the end of the event they announced all the winners.  The woman doing the counting told me she won by a landslide!  Yahoo!  Thank you to all who voted for her.  All told, she beat 129 other dogs.  What a great boost - financially (we won a gift card for $250 to the store I buy her food from - Prarieland Feeds) & emotionally.  *Yes, I realize this kind of makes me a stage mom*

Nana and Nampa stopped by to contribute (also voting with $ that my G-ma sent in).  

Ahh, I love my supportive family.

Millie & her competition.

And the winner is....

Nana & Uncle Jeff Visit

My brother Jeff is in town for the evening.  He lives about two hours away with his wife who is deathly allergic to cats (and some dogs) -- so having them over is basically impossible.  Uncle Jeff, as my girls call him, had yet to see a three legged Millie in person.  In fact, I don't think he'd ever even met Hallie, who I adopted a year ago.  As you can see, I think the girls were quite happy to see their visitors....  :)

And I think we can see why....lots of loving and scratches going around.  

Nampa's Biggest Fan

Millie had another wonderful day out today.  We headed out just before 7am to cheer on Nampa (my dad) and several thousand other runners as they made their way through the Illinois Half Marathon.  As luck would have it, our place was just about half way between mile marker 4 and mile marker 11.  

Millie had a lot of fun things to look at & enjoyed watching runners as they passed by.  When I saw somebody I knew, I'd get very excited & start yelling and ringing the cowbell I brought.  Millie would feed off of my excitement and wag her tail a hundred miles an hour.  

She was exceptionally well behaved, especially considering the crazy things going on around her.  She even got a few drive-by hugs from dog loving runners.  The only real "incident" came when a Bichon surprised her (and me) when it snuck up behind us and jumped on her amputated leg (stump).  Talk about a death wish.  I was able to grab her before the little exuberant fellow became decapitated.  Ahh, lovely unaware owners and those damn flexi leashes...always keeping things interesting.

A little too early for Mil.  She decided to nap until things got interesting.

Go Nampa go!

Cheering on runners at mile marker 11.

Cheering on Nampa

Millie had an excellent day today.  We started off the day by grabbing breakfast at Einstein bagels (of course we got her a bagel too!) before heading out to Sullivan, IL to watch my dad compete in a mini triathlon.  My dad has participated in this particular event a few times, and I believe this was Millie's third time coming to watch.  One year we even snuck her inside to watch the swimming portion!

We arrived just in time to see my dad come out of the pool & hop on his bike.  Here is Millie and Evan rooting on the participants.  If you look carefully, you can see a cowbell in Evan's hand.  :)

Another big plus for Millie (besides the day out, bagel snack, and road trip) was that there was no short supply of hugs.  A fair number of kids came up to say hello, and even some adults.  She soaked it all in.

She was also able to convince Nampa to share some of his post race sandwich.  How, you may ask...

With this adorable, pleading face!  The drool slinger was thrown in for added help.

We had a wonderful day out and had a great time cheering on my dad.

My dad even placed in his age group!  Nice work Dad!!

Meadowbrook - 1.6 miles!!

It was such a beautiful spring day today.  I called my mom and asked if she wanted to meet the girlies and I after work for a walk through Meadowbrook (a local park).  This was going to be quite the challenge for Millie, but I knew with a lot of breaks she could do it.  

Gotta start the day off right.  This is what Millie's breakfast looked like this morning -- full of 

supplements and medicine.  Thankfully she is a big fan of food, so the pills go down 

without her even realizing they are there.  

Millie was excellent during the walk.  She hopped along -- happy to be out of the house, but also pleased it was at one of her favorite parks.  Sugar could not have been more excited.  She refused to show any of her good dog manners, and instead practically pulled Nana through the park.  Yes, I swear she's 13.

All told I bet we took 6 or 7 breaks - some with water & some just to take a breather.  The girls even saw some deer (by girls I mean Sugar, Millie was oblivious) and met some new friends (this time I mean Millie only.  She let several little kids come say hello & wagged her tail throughout.).  The whole trip was 1.6 miles.  1.6 miles on three legs while dealing with a bladder infection & a few days post chemo!  That's amazing!!  I am so proud of Millie.  

4th Round of Chemo

I took this video a few days ago, but you can really see how well Millie is moving these days. 

(Yes, that is Hallie in the background complaining.)

Our morning started much earlier than usual.  Sugar had an upset stomach last night, so we had several emergency walks in the middle of the night.  I also had my alarm set earlier than normal for two reasons -- 1.  I needed to wear a suit to work & 2.  Millie had her fourth round of chemo today.  I drug myself out of bed & gave Millie a Cerenia (anti nausea med) and started my morning routine.  I didn't feel great, but I felt okay enough to keep moving.  When I got to U of I, my stomach was killing me.  They were running behind and said it'd be a few minutes.  Five minutes later & I was throwing up in a trash can in the waiting room....yup, in my suit.  Awesome.  Thank goodness the waiting room was empty & Millie was very well behaved.

At 1:30 I peeled myself out of bed & went to pick Millie up.  I still felt crappy, but felt like I had a reasonable chance of making it out without repeating the morning.  I heard her coming before I saw her.  Well, that isn't exactly true.  I heard, "Millie...wait...Mil...hold on...Millllllllllie."  The poor technician was being drug along by my three legged sled dog of a Mastiff.  She was pumped to see me & in great spirits.  While paying the bill, she was wagging her tail so hard into the desk, it sounded like somebody was using a hammer.  She also solicited petting from the woman next to me.  What a nerd.  The technician told me that her neutrophils were in the normal range today, which is much better than any of us expected (since last time they were quite low).

The afternoon was spent cuddling and sleeping.  She seems to feel great & doesn't appear nauseous at all.  Ugh, we love Cerenia!

Only one more IV chemo treatment to go!

Time to Brag

Today was a beautiful day outside - cool, but sunny.  I've been a bit stressed this week (for a variety of reasons, but most recently because Hallie started limping on a front foot), and really needed to get some fresh air.  The nice day and the need for some head clearing seemed like a perfect excuse to push Millie to her (our) new distance goal.  I didn't really set out with a goal in mind, but decided instead to see how she did.  Drumroll.....we made it 1.2 miles!  This is huge considering our trip down the street and back is only about a half mile.  

I couldn't be happier and I think we both needed it.  She worked hard to do it, but she had a blast.  She hasn't been on a proper walk since her amputation, and I suspect she had a little cabin fever.

Beautiful Piper seeing us off

 Dandelion fluff is pretty, but is sure tickles your nose and makes you sneeze when you inhale it.

Glamour shots

Oh, and we also tried to eat some pine cones.  Well, I showed them to her, and she really 

felt that a nibble was necessary.  

 I took Mil home for a rest and some water & went back out with Sugar.  Isn't she gorgeous?!

A very nice gentleman got out of this car & asked what kind of dog Sugar was.  I replied, "Oh, she's a mixed breed."  He said, "Oh, that's the name?  Mixbreed?"  Me, "No. No.  She's a mixture of a couple different breeds."  Him, "Oh, so it's called Mixbreed?"  Me, "No.  Dogs of different breeds mated and she was the result, or a mix of a few different breeds."  He left confused.  Now that I think about it, I should have said, "Yes.  She's a Mixbreed.  It's really rare, but they are surprisingly really affordable.  They come in lots of different colors and shapes."  Poor Lil Sexy wasn't smart, but he was very nice & he liked Sugar.