Bella had a seizure this morning around 12:59am that lasted about a minute. She then spent almost an hour stumbling around the house. Of course my wife and I were asleep when the seizure started, so we didn't notice any pre-seizure signs. The power went out for the whole block at around 12:30 but only lasted 4 or 5 minutes. It woke us up, and Bella seemed fine - she just laid on floor watching us which is pretty normal for her. I even took her outside to pee before going back to bed. Looking back, yesterday, she was acting a lot more lethargic and stubborn than she normally does.

On July 17th, about a week after starting her on Phenobarbital - a 64.8 MG tablet twice a day - I called the vet concerned that she might not be able to handle the dosage. She was walking around like she was drunk, stumbling and bumping into stuff, and she always slipping on the wood floors. One day, she took a header off the back patio when she decided to attack a tennis ball which was just laying in the grass, minding its own business. Luckily, she missed the cement paving stones that are right off the patio. She got up and heading for the ball again and when she got there, she overshot it, tried to compensate, went into a flat spin, hit the deck, and rolled over a couple times. She recovered quickly and acted like "I meant to do that." I couldn't even laugh because I knew it was the Pheno that has her balance and coordination all out of whack. So, the vet suggested cutting her dose in half - giving her half a pill twice a day. I'm calling the vet today to see if we need to raise her dose back up to 2 pills a day.

No seizures since 5am Tuesday morning, but I really don't like how the Phenobarbital effects her. It's like she's drunk and I can tell she doesn't like it. I might have to talk to the vet about lowering her dose.

Bella had another seizure this morning around 4:55am. This one didn't seem to last as long, but that might just be wishful thinking. For anyone who's counting, that's 3 seizures in a little over 24 hours from a dog who has not had any seizures in at least 5 months. I talked to the woman who took Bella in back in February and she said, as far as she knows, Bella did not have any seizures while she was fostering her.

And, I just got off the phone with the vet and he said the blood tests were all clean so the cause is probably neurological - epilepsy. He suggested prescribing some medication to help get the seizures under control and then setting up consultation with a neurologist.

Okay. I am officially freaked out now. Bella just had another seizure about 30 minutes - less than 24 hours since her last one, which was the first one she's had in the 2 months that we've had her.

During her seizure last night, luckily she was sleeping on the floor in the den. Tonight, however she was on the couch but thank goodness I was sitting there with her. At around 8pm, I decided to play a little xbox instead of going to bed. If I had gone to bed, Bella would have fallen off the couch and onto the hardwood floor. I saw she was about to have another seizure and I scrambled over to her just in time to catch her and keep her from hitting the floor.

A couple people have asked me if she could have gotten into anything toxic and I'm pretty sure she has not. At least, we haven't seen any evidence that she has.

The only major change or occurrence was yesterday when our A/C was out and it got up to 90 degrees in the house. We tried to keep her as cool as possible - I would try to get her to get up and drink water, but was just did not want to get off our bed where she was laying with 2 fans blowing on her. At one point I started wetting small towels and putting them either on her chest or draped over her neck. Those didn't seem to be cool enough, so I put them in the freezer for several minutes and then laid them on her. I kept doing this throughout the day. If her being over heated yesterday is the cause of the seizures I don't know what I'll do. The guilt would probably kill me.

We had a serious scare this morning around 2:30am. My wife woke me up mumbling about noises. When I heard the noise, my first thought was her daughter had some popcorn in the microwave. Turns out, the noise was Bella's paws thrashing against a wall. She was laying on her side, eyes open, body stiff, legs out straight and thrashing - not like in a doggy dream of chasing squirrels - and she was frothing at the mouth. I've never seen one before - either in a dog or a person - but I knew she was having a seizure.

My first response was to call my vet's 24 hour number. Just as someone was answering the phone, the seizure seemed to pass. Bella remained laying on her side, but within a few minutes got up and started walking around. She was definitely dis-oriented and seemed a little out of it. She spent the next 5 or so minutes walking around the house getting her bearings. She would only respond to simple commands - not that she's always responsive to commands - but she was still very out of it and would only let me put her for about a minute. Once she stopped walking around sniffing everything, she just curled up on the floor and stayed there for the next 5 or 6 hours. After that, she seemed to be back to her old "rub my belly" self.

I took her to the vet this morning to have blood work to rule out any internal organ issues that could have caused the seizure and we should hear something back tomorrow. We have had Bella about 2 1/2 months and this is the first time we've seen anything like this.

She looks happy



My step-daughter was in the kitchen making something to eat, so Bella is just sitting there watching her

I'm a little worried about Bella. Yesterday, we came home from work to find a pee spot in our bathroom just inside the door. The previous owner of the house put carpet in the bathroom (WTHF?!) and we're planning on replacing it - we just haven't gotten around to it - but I don't want her to get into that habit. When we first adopted her - about 5 weeks ago - she pee'd in our bathroom once and in the dinning area once. But, that was probably the first couple days we left her at home by herself. I just chalked it up to the stress of being in a new place with new people and all that. I started giving her plenty of praise and a treat every time she potty's outside so she's been really good about it. Although, I've had to scold my wife a couple times for giving Bella a treat after she went outside but didn't do anything.

My two teenaged step-kids have been out of school for the past two weeks so they've been home most of the time - there were a few days last week when they were both at their grandmother's. They have both been pretty good about letting her out in the backyard every couple/few hours and my step-son even took her for a short walk one day. She doesn't actually let us know when she needs to go out. She'll just come over and stand looking at me or she'll sometimes actually walk to the backdoor and stand there looking at it. She doesn't bark or whine or scratch at the door - she just stands there. So, when we got home from work and found the spot in the bathroom, I thought maybe she went to the door, the kids were in their rooms and didn't know she needed to go out, so she went in our bathroom.

However, she did it again last night. When my wife and I first got home, I let Bella out back and she pee'd. Shortly afterwards, my step-son took her for a short walk. Then, about an hour later she was laying on the floor in the dining area after she ate and I tried to get her to go out again - I thought she might need to poop since she didn't eat as much as she normally does - but she wouldn't budge. I found out this morning, that she pooped on her walk with my step-son. I went back into "my room" - I call it "my room" because it's a small room, open on one side that's supposed to be a formal dining room where I have a couch, a TV, and my Xbox - and started playing a video game. I waited about an hour and a half and tried to get her to go out again, but all she wanted to do was lay there. So, a little later, she came into my room, jumped up on the couch and laid down at the other end. Sometimes, when she needs to go out, she'll either stand in front of the couch looking at me or she'll sit right beside me on the couch and stare at me. This time, she laid down on the other end of the couch like she was going to go back to sleep. A little later, my wife started doing something in the kitchen - which is right around the corner from "my room". Bella jumped off the couch to go see what my wife was doing and then followed her into our bedroom. My wife said Bella went into the bathroom, sniffed at the spot where she pee'd earlier in the day - I had wiped up as much as possible and drenched it with Nature's Miracle and had a fan blowing on it so it would dry - walked a little further into the bathroom and then came right back out. As it turns out, she pee'd again just a couple feet from the earlier spot. I was very upset, but I remained calm and didn't punish or even scold her - Bella, not my wife. I did scold my wife a little and told her if she ever sees Bella sniffing around on the floor, it's probably because she needs to go outside. What upset me the most is that I had been trying to get her to go outside for the past few hours, but she didn't seem to want or need to go out.

How can I be mad at her...


We're going to Hobby Lobby tonight and pick up some stuff to make something like this. Bella is about 4 or 5 years old and not knowing how she was raised and house trained, we don't know what to expect from her. We've put down training pads - we picked up some the very first time she pee'd in the house when we first brought her home - in our bathroom and near the backdoor. We've also told the kids not to keep her water bowl full all day and to check on her more throughout the day.

So, I think Bella tricked me into giving up my spot on the couch. Last night, I was sitting in my favorite spot, which also happens to be her favorite spot. She tried to jump onto the couch but her hind legs slipped on the wood floor so she came up short. She was half on the couch and half off and struggling hard to make it all the way up. I got up to help, but whilst I was walking around the ottoman, she miraculously made it all the way and plopped down in our favorite spot.

Well played, Bella. Well played.

Since all of the pictures I've posted have been of Bella laying down - which is what she does most of the time - here is one of her standing.



She looks a little fat in this picture, but she's really not. I think it's just the way she's standing. I bought her an elevated food and water bowl thingy yesterday, but I think it was too tall for her. She didn't seem to want to eat out of the bowl until I put it on the floor.

Note to self: Never brush a German Shepherd Dog when she's laying on a wool blanket. The wife and I had Bella on a wool blanket on the bed (because the small wool blanket is easier to wash than the queen sized down comforter) whilst we were brushing her. Afterwards, I was taking her out to the backyard to potty - Bella, not my wife - and I reached down to give her a pet. My pinky was about a 1/4 inch from the tip of her ear when a spark shot between us. She yelped and my pinky was actually numb for a few minutes.

Bella has started playing a little. But only a little. I hadn't mentioned this before, but I think she is more comfortable with my wife and step-daughter. We have a couple theories as to why. Either she was abused or neglected or both by a man or she was not raised around men. So, the first time she played - which was only a few days after we adopted her - it was with my wife in the backyard whilst I was in the house. She has been a little playful around me, mostly with a little plush fox/squirrel thing that my wife bought and a little with the tennis balls that I bought.

When we first adopted her, I bought a large Kong ball, but she didn't seem to want to play with it. Granted, she won't chase a tennis ball, she just kinda bats it around a few times and then walks away. She acted like she was trying to eat it once, but I think that was her way of telling me she was hungry. I'm interested to know if she might play with the Kong ball now that she seems to be a little more comfortable with us, but I left it in the backyard and can't find it after a storm rolled through last weekend.

Something else we tried when we first adopted her was to see if she would sleep on a dog bed, but she didn't seem to like it. We also picked up a crate the first time she peed on the carpet whilst we were at work, but she didn't like it either. I couldn't even coax her into with a treat. We also tried a harness instead of a standard collar - I don't really like collars, plus the harness I picked up has a restraining handle which I planned on feeding the seat belt through it to restrain her when we take her somewhere in the car - but she didn't like it either. She let me put it on her and get it adjusted, even though she kept trying to lay down. She seemed very uncomfortable walking around in it and when I tried to get her to jump onto the bed, she acted like her back legs were broken and she would only put her front legs on the on the bed. Instead of trying to adjust it better, I just took it off and decided to try again later. We need to take her to the vet to make sure she's been spayed - according to her foster "mother" the vet thinks she's been spayed, but we need to make sure. Apparently, "Sterilization of the animal is required by Texas law (Chapter 828, Health and Safety Code)" within 30 days of adopting an animal. Plus, we need to register her with the city and they offer chipping for an additional fee, so we'll need to take her in for that.

I've always liked closeups

I let Bella onto my couch one time and now she thinks it's her's. Even though she'll bounce from one end of the couch to the other, she almost always starts at this end. I'm not sure it's a coincidence or not that this is the end of the couch where I normally sit.

So, a little more information about how we found Bella and my plan for this blog.

We found Bella through the North Texas German Shepherd Rescue. And, we found them through The Fort Worth German Shepherd Dog Club. We decided to adopt for a couple reasons:

1. I've never liked the idea of puppy mills - Once a female dog is old enough to start having puppies, stick her in a cage, throw in a male dog, sell the puppies, repeat.

2. A lot of pet stores get their dogs from puppy mills.

3. I've wanted a German Shepherd Dog for a few years. When I started looking at reputable breeders, I realized they all mostly bread show dogs. They base their prices on how well the dame and sire.

The main reason we decided to adopt is because there are just too many dogs out there who are abandoned and need a loving, caring home.



My plans for this blog are to provide our experience with adopting a German Shepherd Dog and what we learn. I also plan on posting information that I've found and links to helpful sites.

INTRODUCING --- BELLA!!

We adopted a German Shepherd Dog (GSD) this past Saturday. She had been in foster care since late January. Catherine (the woman who took her in) said she was just sitting beside a country road 4 miles from her house where she thinks she was abandoned and that the dog followed her home.



Catherine said the dog didn't look like she had been on her own for too long because it looked like her collar had been recently removed. Not knowing the dog's name, she called her "Girlfriend." She took "Girlfriend" to the vet to make sure she was up-to-date on her shots. They said her heartworm test returned a "light" positive and they prescribed 6 months of Heartgard Plus and said she should be retested after. The vet she is about 4-5 years old and in good health.

She had been an outside dog most of the time she was with Catherine so we tried to give her a bath shortly after we got her home, but she didn't want anything to do with that. She didn't fight us or anything - no growling or biting - she just would not stand still for it. I think we were just trying to do too much in the short time we had known each other. Since we've been letting her sleep on our bed, we took her to Petsmart last Monday and they were able to give her a bath. The groomer even said that Girlfriend was a perfect angel the whole time.



She's starting to open up more. She'll usually come to me when I call her, unless she's already laying down :-). She's even started wagging her tail when she comes to one of us. She seems to really like sleeping on our bed, even though she doesn't leave much room for me. At first we had to coax her onto the bed, but now she'll jump up there on her own.

We've been trying to think of another name for her and finally came up with Bella.