Summer Update in Circles

Around the end of July, Jordan began something new: walking in circles. Big circles, then little circles. Not all the time, but often enough for us to notice it and enough to occasionally make her dizzy. We went in to our vet in NY, and called Jordan's cancer doc in CA. Everyone agreed, her brain tumor was back. Two and a half years symptom-free was a hell of a long ride. The best estimate they had to give us was that she would have 0-2 months to live before more symptoms and other unknowns would take our baby away. This is the beginning of the very tough but inevitable return of her tumor. We love this dog very, very much.

the Hundog takes a big leap

The Jordan Love team was really, really sad to learn that Honey, aka hundog, lost her battle with cancer this month. We became smitten with Honey in Feb 2008 when Jordan and Honey had back to back radiation appointments at the Vet Cancer Center in LA. It was an intense but lovely way to get to know Honey's parents. It reminded us to be extra thankful that Jordan is still with us and made us lean into the reality that she won't be with us forever.

Honey, we are so glad that we met you.
Hope there's lots of big, deep, and easy breaths waiting for you in your next adventure.

Back together again

We have spent the entire summer at home, a first in years. We were lucky enough to fill our house with family and friends almost every single weekend. Jordan loved the visitors and enjoyed the extra time in the yard as we expanded our gardening skills. This summer also marked a return to the big bed for Jordan. On exile since 2003 for middle of the night dog fights, Jordan and Reggie seemed to have settled their score and then some. They have not had a fight in more than 4 years so we decided to slowly reintroduce the idea of being in bed together again. It was a huge success and has made us all so much happier. Jordan has been successfully sleeping in the person bed with the whole family since May.

Cuteness in a black & white package

Jordan peaks out of the covers from an afternoon nap.

Jordan and Aurora

Aurora and her family came to visit! Aurora seems particularly drawn to Jordan, I think she likes her sloppy kisses best - and Jordan sure didn't mind the chance to help clean up the baby.

more!

Jordan gets a neice!

Jordan went out to CA this month to meet the newest member of the extended family - our niece! Jordan came out for two weeks to help the new parents get used to their new 2-legged creature. Jordan did a lot of baby-sitting, as pictured below.

a vacation and a Dog Beach

Took Jordan with us to Florida for a family reunion. It was great to get away from cold upstate NY and Florida is one of the few states Jordan has never been to. For the most part is was hot and muggy but we did get away from the family on Saturday morning and managed to find the hip dog beach thanks in large to the internet.

It was amazing. It looked like nothing from the road, a dirt pull off on the side of the road with a small brown sign that said Dog Beach on it (right next to the No Parking at Any Time sign). No one was paying attention to the No Parking sign but we hoped they were paying attention to the other one.

We got suited up and took Jordan out to see the beach. She used to love to swim, but since losing most of her eyesight she hasn't had many opportunities that were safe and controlled enough to make it happen. Anyways, there were tons of dogs coming and going from the entrance so we carried Jordan - which ended up being necessary since the tide was high and the "path" to the beach was completely under water.

So there we were wading our way out to a beach, being greeted by several enthusiastic pups along the way.

Once we turned the corner we were shocked by the sight. White sand, clear blue water, dogs of all sizes and shapes - it was heaven! There were dogs and people and boats everywhere. Apparently driving to this beach really isn't the norm, there must have been 30+ boats anchored right in the shallow water with dogs jumping on and off them.

Much like the path to the beach the beach it self was mostly under water, just a small sandbar that popped out in the middle making the population of humans all gather close.

For Jordan's sake we took the path less traveled and opted for a grassy non-beach spot on the far side of the little bay we were in. A few dogs came over to see us, but none bothered Jordan and Jordan didn't bother them so it worked great. TT and I took turns wading over ot the sandbar to see all the action. There were so many different dogs, it was awesome.
Dogs playing fetch, dogs playing with dogs, dogs swimming with their people. I wish there was someplace like that closer to us.

Jordan seemed completely content being held at the beach. She did do a little bit of swimming, but wasn't really into it. We stayed just long enough to give TT a sunburn and then headed back to the hotel.