Chloe's 5th Birthday...

today is chloe's 5th birthday. it seems only yesterday that chloe was a little puppy resting in my arms. now already, she's 5yrs old.

happy birthday girl. thank you for being here for us every day, every second of the day. thank you for keeping us safe at home and protecting us and your baby sister, haley. thank you for being such a good girl.

even though mommy and your baby sister haley can't be here with us, but at least daddy's here to make you a special dinner... just for you!

chloe's special birthday dinner...


- 1 BBQ chicken drumstick, 2 boiled egg, handcrafted carrots by her daddy, and 5 celery sticks as her candle; all from whole foods.


here's chloe waiting for food while i take her photo. i told her to wait, wait, wait...


chloe trying to take a quick sniff... still trying to resist the temptation...


can't help the urge... must eat...


look at chloe attacking the boiled egg first. that's her favorite thing to eat... or maybe she's just saving the best for last..

needless to say, chloe had a wonderful dinner and was a very happy doggie...

happy birthday girl... we love you dearly...

It's been 2 wks... Chloe with IVDD

it's been exactly 2 wks since chloe had IVDD. although we are very optimistic about her speedy recovery, but still in the shadowed corner in the back of our heads, we still need to face the reality that maybe, just maybe, chloe may never fully walk again.

till today, chloe's able to wag her tail when she's happy, bark when she's anxious, cry when she wants her daddy's attention, and still can eat like a horse.

she's been able to move her legs a bit these days, which seems to mean that there's more sensitivity going on in her hind legs. but still not much reflex from her paws. normal dogs when you bend their paws back when they are standing up, they will automatically flip it back. but chloe can not fully do that. only from time to time.

but still, we are hopeful. so, please continue to pray for chloe's speedy recovery.

here's a video of chloe taking her first walk outside of her crib. we needed to make a video for a wheelchair company in taiwan to see, so they can assess chloe's condition for which type of wheelchair.

be warned, this is a very heartbreaking video. i hope no doggie parent would and should ever have to go through this. therefore, if you have a big doggie or even a doggie with longer body, please watch their weight and prevent them from jumping up and down or climbing the stairs.

CHLOE 加油! 加油! 加油!

Chloe's Road to Recovery - Day 1

last night on 7/28/09, chloe started to feel funny after our dinner walk. we thought chloe must've accidently ate a hot pepper from our subway sandwich or something. chloe kept on pacing around and around, resting very uneasy.

by 11pm that night, haley was crying as usual, since she has been teething. but chloe was still very restless, as if something is wrong, but don't know what it is. then at 3am in the morning, haley cried again and chloe wanted to come down from the bed. i picked her up and put her down and she just walked into haley's room to check on her.

after that, i was afraid that chloe might bark and woke up haley, so i took her downstairs to sleep with me on the futon. when we got downstairs, chloe still didn't want to sleep with me on the futon, which was very unusual. so i decided to let chloe walk around downstairs as she please while i get some sleep.

by 7am, my alarm rang and i was getting ready to go to work. when i saw chloe laying down, i went to check on her. chloe was happy to see me, but when she stood up and tried to walk, that's when my heart was shattered into billions of pieces.

chloe was dragging her hind legs on the floor. chloe has lost control of her hind legs and tail movements.

i knew one of these days it will happen to dachshunds because most of them will have IVDD (Intervertebral disc disease). however, never in a million year would i think it would happen to chloe that early on in her life.

that day, i decided to take the whole week off and took chloe into the vet to have a check up. the vet gave us three choices:

1) take her to specialist for evaluation if surgery would help or not. if yes, it would cost around US$5000 - $6000 and the chance of recovery is 50%-60% max.

2) take the non-surgurcal method, which is pain medication with steroids. then crate resting for 6-8 wks to see if she can heal herself.

3) let her go and put her to sleep.

for us, the choice was very simple. we decided to go for #2. we love chloe dearly but if the surgery could guarantee at least 80% chance, i would go in debt for her. but after reading some reviews of doxie owners, it seems that most went through surgury, eventually have other disc move out of place.

as for #3, we would not choose that. it would be like seeing your loved ones get injured and paralyzed from the waist down and must rely on a wheelchair, but you decided to put them to sleep instead.

chloe is still a very healthy and happy dachshund. just today after the visit from the vet, she kept crying and licking her hind legs while looking at me with her round eyes asking:

"daddy, what's wrong with me? how come i can't move my legs anymore?"

don't worry baby.. mommy and daddy and haley will not give up on you. so you need to fight, fight, fight and get better soon. when you are all much better, daddy will get you a wheelchair and we can go to carmel again.

to all my readers: a simple request... please pray for chloe's speedy recovery and keep her in your daily prayers. God Bless..

Chloe ate my lunch...

ya'll heard that correctly... chloe ate my lunch. this was the first time either. but being the weiner dog that she is, with such a long body and bubbley personality, she couldn't help herself to reach for my bento box prepared by my honey bunny.

in the previous attempts, she's been successful; whereas i was not in catching her red handed. but this time.. haha.. i got proof!

just when i was repling to my work email, chloe pretended to sleep on the futon with her head turn away from my bento box. the minute i started to type on the keyboard, she moved in quietly and swiftly towards my bento box.

what you will see next is the actual image of chloe stealing my food! bad doggie~



so did i punish her? of course not. she's just doing what any doxie would do, EAT! besides, who can punish a puppy face like this. notice how she already have that "sorry daddy, i'm wrong" type of look?



the next day during lunch.. i still at the same bento box. but i microwaved it much longer than the usual time. i let it ran for 4.5 mins just to nuke and kill all the germs. needless to say, i had a great lunch that day. besides the fact that my wife made me a wonderful bento box, what cheered me up the most was thinking and laughing about how chloe tried to eat my bento box. haha.

what a day~

Chloe's New Trick...

lately, we've been trying to encourage haley to learn how to crawl. by tomorrow, haley will be 7 months old. so, haley has been trying very hard to crawl. actually it's more like wiggling like a silk worm to move forward. haha.

but the main star isn't haley this time. we haven't had too much time to spend with chloe, so at times, she feels left out. so every chance i get, i try to bond with chloe to give her some 1 on 1 daddy's girl time.

it's been a while since chloe learned tricks and really, we didn't have time to teach her much either. then something happend last night...

while haley was sleeping in her crib, i was playing with chloe. she had just woke up from her little nap and was doing her yoga stretches, "upward dog, downward dog..." then when chloe started her upward dog position.. she started to slide forward.

that's when cherie and i was surprised to see chloe do that, because she has never done that before. then, cherie quickly grabs some treats for chloe and i started to teach chloe to replicate that again and again.

now.. chloe knows a new trick... she knows how to crawl before haley does... wahaha