Not the worst news...

That was an expensive ear cleaning! I only say that because dark humor is my way of dealing with the anxiety of what's going on with Leo. Leo is now back from surgery, and I've spoken to the surgeon. More on that later.  Leo was a trooper through it all, and probably handled everything better than I did - although he was quite drooly and unstable when I picked him up.

Maybe more than a scare

Sometimes, when you have a dog that's been through what Leo's been through, you see little things and think that it's nothing, and sometimes you see little things and KNOW that something is amiss.  This is one of those latter times.

Scare

We had a bit of a scare just recently.  There was a period of good health and generally good times, including a trip to a cook-out (courtesy of the Smiths) and some more hiking and camping, but then Leo stopped eating. 

Fahnestock, May

We went up to Fahnestock State Park in May.  It was a beautiful day for hiking, and we did the mountain trail off Route 9.  It takes you through some old woods with old stone walls and fire-road style trails, as well as the remains of an estate entrance. We stopped at the top for some food and pictures.

Happy Birthday To Leo!

The Big One-Oh!
Leo's birthday is August 5, or so says the Vet records. He's 10 now, which makes him somewhere between 60 and 65, according to this chart from webMD.  The whole 7 years thing is out the window, for the most part.
When this whole thing started, we were worried about Leo getting to 9.  Now we're at 10!  We just got a clean bill of health at his latest vet visit, as well - the best possible present that we could get.

The 4 phases of Dog.

While I certainly haven't been good about updating the blog, it's not because nothing's been happening.  To the contrary, quite a bit has been happening, mostly good stuff.  Over the spring, me and Leo spent a lot of time at Prospect Park (there are funny stories about that forthcoming), up at Fahnestock Park (lots of fun hiking up the mountain), Forest Park (a park in Queens that is, well, a big forest!) and finally a trip to North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia that included a hotel stay, 100+ degree weather, camping, lakes, rednecks, and a broken sway bar in my car.

Outdoorsy

Well, we've been spending a lot of time hiking and getting out this spring and summer.  Leo's doing well - all of this checkups and bloodwork have been clear, so that's good!
More later, but here's a shot from one of many trips to Fahnestock (our new favorite close-by hiking spot).