Rehabilitation

I was looking through some of Azuki's older photos and found these photos of Azuki trekking away on an underwater treadmill. This was part of her rehab program for her bad leg, in order to build up the much-needed muscles.

When we first moved to New York, the weather was so cold and damp that Azuki's limping got considerably worse. Luckily, New York has some of the best pet-care in the world, and of course, our pup always gets the best healthcare (we justify all the costs that she incurs by the logic: "But she is Azuki!", like that somehow makes all the sense in the world). There is this large animal hospital close to our old temorary apartment, and for about a month and a half she attended twice weekly rehab sessions with a doggie physical therapist.

You can imagine what an idiot I felt like when I had to tell people, "Oh, I have to go pick up my dog from her physical therapist..." It's like name-dropping, with your dog. You may laugh, but on the same floor as her Rehab Center there is also the Oconology Center (with its own Radiation Room) as well as a Dermatology unit. Azuki often rubs shoulders with other overly priviledged pets as they wait for their CAT scans and radiation sessions.

The way I look at these costs is---sure, it costs a lot of money for Azuki's surgery, and her subsequent rehab sessions...but Matt and I often spend more money on nice dinners than the monthly income of developing countries, so can I really deny my dog treatments which we can actually afford? Matt often strokes Azuki and calls her our little car, and he is exaggerating her costs but I am not really into cars but I certainly love my pup. And for Matt? He likes to complain and pretend that he is outraged by how much Azuki is costing us but he is really Azuki's biggest fan and would not stand for our pup to suffer.

But here is the pup tredding on a treadmill that is half filled with water (the resistance of the water is a good way to work the muscles):




In between sessions Azuki often cuddles up with Renee's dog (her physical therapist!), a small maltese pup called Finney. Finney and Azuki are like lovers without the sex part (because they are both neutered and spayed), so I guess it would just make them childhood playmates?



Because Azuki loves Renee and Finney very much, Renee also babysits Azuki when Matt and I go on vacations. Renee tells me that Azuki and Finney can tear up the house when they are playing:



Apparently Azuki has no house manners and treats other people's homes like her own:


If you are wondering why Azuki looks wet in the above photo, it's because she was just given a bath. After she jumped onto Renee's BED (she is never allowed in bed at home!), and landed right in the middle of Renee's salad, HER DINNER. It's a good thing that Renee is an animal lover, and finds such gross transgressions terribly amusing instead of totally rude.

So there you go--our expensive and crazy little dog! Long Live Azuki!

Play and Cuddle

Azuki likes to play. No, let me rephrase that. Azuki LOVES to play. Besides ripping her toys around, and being chased around the coffee table, her favorite game by far is fighting--by that I mean SHE likes to fight with us. Usually, that means she is biting us(not too hard, unless she gets overly excited in which case she will CHOMP and I will YELL and then she will feel bad and act all innocent), attacking us with her paws and again with her teeth, all the time making ferocious sounds like GRRRRRRRRR with it. Although she tries her best to put on her mean face, and many times we are left with her teeth marks and scratch marks firmly ingrained in our hands/legs, it's really hard to be scared by a little pup who resembles more like a stuffed animal than a killing machine. Here she is playing with her pa, with her butt high up in the air in a playbow postion:





Here she is looking at pa to see if he would play with her some more:


When she is not trying to chew our fingers off, Azuki can be quite the snuggle buddy. Here she is taking a nap with Matt on the couch:

Constant Companion

Azuki likes to accompany us in whatever that we are doing. This includes when we are watching TV (she will sleep right between me and Matt on the sofa, which is now her absolute domain), on the computer, or even on the toliet (she wants to be ON our laps when we are using the toilet).

When she is tired, she will just plop down wherever we are and snooze away. The other night Matt was gracious enough to make me dinner, and Azuki kept him company by resting on the kitchen rug. She was very tired from the heat outside:





See how she is resting her chin on the bar of our pet gate? How can you not love that face?

Seek and Destroy

Azuki has a tendency to mull her toys. Her poor squeaky bear died of a slow, horrible, and cruel death. When I looked up from my book this afternoon, I found that squeaky bear's muzzle has been ripped off, his inards (cotton) laid strewed around the living room carpet while Azuki was gnawing on his organ (the squeaker). I left the carnage untouched to show Matt.

When Matt came home, he was so amused that he decided to arrange the scene of the crime and take so photos.

The following two photos are re-enactment of what happened this afternoon:





Don't let that innocent face fool you. She is a beast:



This is what she did to her bear....may he rest in peace:

Monkey Baby

There are definitely times when we look at Azuki, and feel that instead of looking at a dog, we are looking at a small, furry, monkey: