Pools, Slides and Sadie

This week has been an adventure with a lot of swim time. Thankful for that since it's been so unusually hot for this time of year here.

Our next door neighbors were out of town and were very nice to let us use their pool so the kids swam in there for two days. That was before our shark water slide for the backyard arrived. The girls had fun playing in it one night and then had some friends join them the next day for some outside fun complete with a giant bubble rope which I guess is fun for ages 6-96!

On Sunday we went to my brother's pool to celebrate his birthday so more pool/swim time. I can't say between these water activities and our beach in Michigan that we are really missing the pools this summer (except for swim team which Peyton was looking forward to) as we've managed to stay cool . In fact, we all have a pretty strong tan going on even with sunscreen and it's not even July yet.

Sadie did think the shark water slide with the pool at the bottom was a giant water bowl for her and I'm sure she wanted to cool off in it too but it would take forever for her to dry. We did buy her a cooling vest that you wet and then zip her up in it and that keeps her cooler than normal for walks during the hot weather (which need to be limited). Sadie isn't doing too many walks anyway as a few days ago she injured her knee. Her vet thinks she twisted it. Either way this dog is prone to injuries since she had a tear in the other knee not long ago. Despite these injuries, her vet thinks her osteoarthritis is the main issue she has now and the Wobbler's disease is really secondary. From watching her, I concur. She is experiencing extreme arthritis particularly in her back legs so we need to start treating her with pain medication to keep her more comfortable and agile. This is her life now and for probably the rest of it and we'll need to manage it as best we can. I'm hoping we get to a point where she doesn't appear to be a 14 year old dog instead of a 4 year old one but her quality of life is still good and she's happy - especially if she's outside on our porch in Michigan or on the couch next to her humans.