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Titus the
Dog
Hello! My
name is Titus. As I frequently spend time in Mommy's office, I would like to take a moment and
introduce myself. You may hear me watchdog bark on occasion, when you are speaking with Mommy on the phone. My Forever Family I chose my Daddy and Mommy (Jim and Mary) as my Forever
Family when they visited the Contra Costa Animal Shelter in Martinez, California on June 18, 2005. In honor of this very special event, we celebrate the third Saturday
of every June as Titus Day. I am a Chow Chow mix, most likely Chow Chow with a lot of Husky
and a little Retriever mixed in. I turned 10 wonderful years old on July 30, 2010, the equivalent of 64
human years old. Fabulous! My
Family and I live life to the fullest; we appreciate each and every day. I like to take walks through
my neighborhood, hike in Briones Regional Park with Daddy, garden with Mommy, play ball, perform my watchdog duties, take
long naps, and chase squirrels (and the occasional kitty that wanders into Mommy's gardens). Briones is so beautiful;
I've posted some cool pictures of an April 14, 2010 hike with Daddy. Just in case you are wondering what the weather is like in my neighborhood, here
are the details from my friends at The Weather Channel:
I look
forward to UPS and Fed Ex deliveries at my home; the drivers often bring me a big Milk-Bone biscuit! US Postal
Service mail carriers never, ever bring me a bone. What's up with that? No wonder the US Postal Service has
so many problems! My Favorite Foods My favorite foods are Tillamook medium
cheddar cheese, roast chicken, roast turkey, Hebrew National Beef Frankfurters (the 97% fat free version), Mommy's homemade
cookies, Dogswell Breathies Chicken Breast Strips with Mint & Parsley, Dogswell Biscuits with Benefits, Nutro Ultra Senior
Biscuits, and milk. I drink a bowl of milk every evening after my dinner, for strong bones and teeth. I
also like Nutro Natural Choice moist dog food; I am currently enjoying the Chicken & Rice Senior recipe.
I eat a few bites of Nutro Ultra Senior recipe dry dog food (or "crunchies", as Mommy calls it) when I
am extra hungry. I am not too terribly fond of these crunchy things, but I eat some every now and then, to satisfy
Mommy. As Daddy told me, we need to keep the household happy. Although most of this crunchies stuff
is so tasteless it isn't even fit for a kitty, the Nutro Ultra Senior recipe is reasonably tasty. After
my dinner, I also take two supplements: 2 tablets of CosaminDS, a glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate blend, and 1-1000
mg tablet of Nature's Bounty Omega-3 & 6 Fish Oil. Mommy covers the pills in cream cheese, and I lap them right
up. I highly recommend both of these supplements; they help keep me strong and active, and help prevent
stiffness and soreness from my daily walks, hikes, and squirrel chasing adventures. My Awesome Veterinarians I am thankful for the excellent
veterinary care I receive from everyone at Hillcrest Veterinary Hospital in Pleasant Hill, California (my primary veterinarians) and Veterinary Surgical Associates in Concord, California (my veterinary surgeons). Highly recommended! (Although I could do
without having my temperature taken during my visits.) My
Knee Surgeries: June 2008 and May 2009 I tore the ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament)
in my left rear knee in June 2008, and had surgery on June 19, 2008 to rebuild my left knee using the TPLO (Tibial Plateau
Leveling Osteotomy) procedure. Dr. Timothy W.H. Sellmeyer, DVM, Diplomate ACVS performed the very successful surgery.
Without the surgery, I would not be able to go on long walks and hikes, climb hills, chase squirrels, or comfortably climb
our stairs ever again. My Family and I agreed this would not be a very good quality of life for me.
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Titus the Dog
Mary's Beloved Canine Companion
In the spring of 2009, I started to have discomfort in my right knee. I had ruptured my right ACL; my
right knee was swollen and experiencing scar tissue buildup. One of my primary vets, Dr. Louisa Asseo, DVM, said I have
lots of good years left, and advised it would be best to have surgery now to help prevent arthritis, inflammation, and pain.
On May 28, 2009, Dr. Paula West, DVM, Diplomat ACVS successfully reconstructed my right knee using the TPLO procedure, using
a TPLO plate, six screws, and a pin. Fabulous! I had to stay overnight in the hospital
following both of my surgeries. I was concerned about leaving my Family alone, as I had never spent a
night away from both Daddy and Mommy. Thankfully my Family survived without me those two nights. My recovery from both surgeries went very well. In fact, I was feeling so good after my second knee
surgery in May 2009, that Daddy had to stop me from running through the house only four days after my surgery. During
my Summer recoveries following my surgeries, I convinced Mommy to feed our backyard squirrels extra peanuts, so
the squirrels would get fat and slow in preparation for my return to squirrel chasing in the Autumn. Fantastic! My knees are now better and stronger than ever. I
hike the hills at Briones Regional Park and the Lafayette Reservoir Rim Trail with ease. I feel like the Bionic
Super Dog! You can see my X-Rays below. Pretty cool, huh?
Summer News: August
2010 My Family and I are having a great
Summer. This Summer has been the coolest Summer in memory. I have really enjoyed the cooler weather, which
has made for great long walks and hikes. I recently had a great off-leash outing at Point Isabel Regional Shoreline Park, a beautiful 23-acre off-leash dog park in Richmond, California. I met two new canine friends, a 7-year-old Australian
Cattle Dog, and a 1 1/2-year-old Portuguese Water Dog. We chased each other, rumbled, and barked. I had a grand
time with my new friends. Mommy has been away
on quite a bit of business travel lately. I do not like it when Daddy or Mommy is gone ... I know what is up, when I
see one of those black boxes with a handle and wheels come out of the closet. Sometimes they go to and return from the
airport on the same day, which I much prefer to their overnight trips. Thankfully, Mommy and Daddy never leave on a
business trip at the same time. Daddy and I have quite a big job when Mommy is gone, as we have to keep Mommy's
many outside plants and gardens alive. Fortunately, Mommy says we do a great job ... Whew! When Daddy is gone, I step up my watchdog duties to protect Mommy, increasing my normal DEFCON 5 alert level
to DEFCON 2 or 1. During the night, I stay near Mommy's bed and, as a good watchdog should do, I keep her informed about
activity around the house. I provide several sharp barks when the neighborhood skunks pass through our back
yard (at about 12:45 AM), then provide several more barks when the neighborhood raccoons pass through our back yard (usually
at about 2:45 AM). Lastly, I alert Mommy to the arrival of the newspaper carrier delivering the daily New York
Times and Contra Costa Times (usually between 4:45 AM and 5:15 AM). I know Mommy appreciates my alert
notification system! I then take long naps throughout the day, to rest up for my watchdog duties the next night.
Best wishes to everyone for a great Summer and Autumn. I'll check
back in later and let you know how things are going. Thanks for stopping by!
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