Although I don’t post on Tuesday, I had to write this post as it was one year ago today that my beloved Ninja earned her wings after a long respiratory illness. It’s taken hours to pen because my eyes got too swollen to finish and hot a day has gone by that I haven’t thought of her. She was a quirky dog with a load of baggage. Being a puppy mill mama, she was 95% feral when she was adopted on September 16, 2016. Here was the first post I wrote introducing her. Her spirit was fierce and she was not easily impressed but once you gained her trust, she was as devoted as any dog I’ve ever known. She made you earn her affection and respect and of all the Standard Poodles I’ve been fortunate enough to be owned by (people don’t own poodles, they are owned by them), she was without a doubt the most beautiful. With gorgeous conformation and dark brown eyes that reminded me of a baby gorilla, and a luxurious curly coat, she had a very impish side to her. You can read about her escapades of munching my reading glasses over the years-it was legendary. Here are a few of the casualties over the years. I always swore she thought wool socks were a food group.
Long time readers will recall Elsa was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy a mere two weeks after she was adopted. It was a crushing blow, not because of the condition but because she had experienced such a rough life as a puppy mill mama and this was one more thing for her to have to endure. She turned me into an advocate for dogs with epilepsy where we showed people that dogs with epilepsy could still enjoy a normal life. Her vet was always impressed with her calm and easy demeanor whenever she visited and mentioned she was one of the easiest dogs to draw blood from of all his patients. She never flinched or balked and he and the vet tech especially loved her sweetest for that reason.
Like Wilson, she had a ‘thing’ about squirrels and would chase them up trees every chance she got. She came close a couple of times to catching one who clearly had no idea who it was messing with. Stealthy fast, she’d go into attack mode and often leapt in the air to try to reach one of the tree rats and tried her best to climb the tree.
Elsa wasn’t a fan of any the photos sessions but she took each one in stride, even when I needed to repeat a pose because I was laughing so hard at her expressions. and kept blurring the image. She loved eviscerating squeaky toys. Anything with protruding parts was fair game for being chewed off and the animal hospital was constantly repairing toys.
She was a bit of a unicorn when it came to dogs. So unusual, definitely mysterious yet ever so loyal. I can tell you when I took this photo wearing the unicorn headband and collar for Halloween one year, it took forever to take one that wasn’t blurred from all my laughter. She stood there patiently waiting while I broke up multiple times. She was always such a good sport for all our photos sessions.
When our online store was connected to the blog, she was often my model for the bandanas. Again, patient as could be and while she was a black dog and thus hard to photograph, she always did a fantastic job posing.
Walks with her were a wonderful adventure but unlike all the male dogs, she almost never sniffed at plants for a spot to pee over a previous dog’s visit. But on a few occasions, she’d flop down and do a hearty face rub on the turf showing me she was at peace with her life. I loved those moments as she was fairly skittish when she was first adopted. I was always grateful for Sam who taught her how to be a dog and to Norman who taught her to wag her tail with joy.
Elsa loved riding in the car and was one of the best passengers I ever had. Here she was when I drove to Missouri to pick up Wilson.
This memorial post has brought a flood of tears but also tons of smiles. I hope Elsa is giving Norman and Sam a break and not bossing them around too much. But I know they loved you as much as I did and wouldn’t have minded if you were lording it over on them.
Elsa has been missed every single day this past year and she’ll always be my beautiful Ninja. Until we’re all reunited, just know I love you as much today as I did when you first came to live at the Ranch. To our readers, I hope you enjoyed this loving look back at this sweet girl who touched my life in ways I can’t even begin to express.
Live, love, bark ! 🐾
Today we are doing something different from our usual fare, we’re reviewing a book written by the award winning author, Dorothy Wills-Raftery. Dorothy is one of the premier lay people on canine epilepsy and one with whom I became acquainted with nearly 10 years ago following the rescue of Elsa, my Standard Poodle shortly after her epilepsy diagnosis came following her adoption. Elsa has now been a “Ninja Angel” for 5 months (gosh…where has the time gone?) and not a day goes by that I don’t think about her and still miss her every single day. Dorothy’s blog and all the resources she shared got me through some dark times trying to help keep Elsa well and live a good life despite the diagnosis. She made me realize that epi-dogs can live great lives despite the diagnosis. I shall forever be grateful for her support, knowledge and shared resources.
Hello, Elsa here. We normally don’t post on Thursday’s but because today is the last day of November, we are focusing attention on epilepsy (especially after the recent return to Standard time which always winds up my Mom as she tries to phase in the meds to keep my anti-seizure medication as level as possible so I don’t seize). Mom hates having to figure out when to integrate those incremental shifts in time to keep things on an even keel since my meds must be administered every 12 hours at 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM. Sometimes she’s better at it but it gives her heartburn nonetheless and she always worries it might trigger a seizure. Luckily we got through it unscathed again but it’s always a colossal hassle. Can anyone tell me why we still do this stupid “spring forward/fall back” nonsense?
💜 Live, love, bark! 🐾 💜
Whew…we made it…it’s Friday and that means my oaf of a brother and I join those cute pups from 
Elsa: You’ve gotten pretty good finding yellow plants lately. Did Mom trim your bangs or what?
Rather than post more images of snowy urban scenes with emerging spring bulbs (you’re probably as tired of seeing my spring storm photos as I am posting them), today we will be joining and supporting our ‘fur-iends’ from 
Welcome to Monday where I usually share a smile but since today is International Epilepsy Day (a joint initiative created by the International Bureau for Epilepsy and the International League Against Epilepsy), I wanted to shed awareness on the condition since epilepsy has personally touched the Ranch and to encourage everyone to advocate for legislation guaranteeing the rights of all those who suffer from epilepsy. International Epilepsy Day is a global event which is celebrated annually on the 2nd Monday of February. It’s also the day when those who live with epilepsy share their experience with a global audience and encourage and remind anyone who lives with this condition to live life to their fullest potential.
You may recall that shortly after adopting Elsa (read her adoption story 