Dogs in diapers.

The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you can make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.

-Samuel Butler, Notebooks, 1912

Nothing gets your attention faster than hearing a voice say "Yeah, McKenzie, that's your butt that smells". McKenzie is our 12 year old cockapoo, affectionately know as Lulu or Kenzie Lu, and the voice belonged to Kyle, who at 23, is the youngest of our five human kids. I glanced over to see McKenzie thoroughly absorbed in checking out her own bottom, and it didn't take me long to realize this wasn't your run of the mill dog butt sniffing. Lulu was bleeding.

That was yesterday evening, today we went to see Dr. Horton. McKenzie has either a ruptured anal gland (sorry to be so graphic) or a tumor (otherwise known as Farrah Fawcett syndrome). At this point there is too much swelling and inflammation to differentiate. She goes back in a week after finishing a round of antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory. For now McKenzie has donned a new accessory- a diaper. Thanks to the young families in the neighborhood, we have a variety of Pampers and Pull-ups decorated with everything from Tweety Bird to Elmo, to choose from. At first Lulu wouldn't move. She sat in one place for an hour, and when she finally did walk she looked like a sidewinder trying to shake the diaper off.

When my kids were growing up they begged me to get a dog and I refused. We now have three furry kids that call our house home. The human kids just laugh and say every time one of them moves out we replace them with a dog. I don't think so...but then again, who would have thought I'd be dealing with diapers?