Travel Tips

2004, April 15th... the day I OWED taxes... and yet it's also the day I found my very first dog at "blah/ahem/achoo!"-three year's old! While his name is long, his list of ailments is longer!

I found him while walking a friend's toddler I occaisionally watch. Ownerless and Tag-Free, I spied him eating out neighborhood garbage cans.

He reminded me of the dog characters from the Disney Film, "Lady and the Tramp." He had spunk, character, and he was cute. A ShihTzu... living off the land. Something didn't seem right.

He followed us naturally, and One Grooming session, Two Vet trips and $600 dollars in related costs later, I guess we can say HE WAS MINE!

Note this charming BEFORE photo! I had just brought him home, post-babysitting, and he's eating ham like it was just invented.

We named him Ulysses....

I love this photo of him. Once I got the approval of Mary and Jason to bring him home, I had to get Merlin's permission. Merlin is the ALPHA Dog here; a pug. It turns out that Merlin tolerated Ulyssey fairly well. They were both "Senior's" and got along the way two old grumpy men would get along. They were heavy into AVOIDANCE...

Naturally, my dog was cuter and smarter than Merlin. (YEAH, Mary and Jason don't read my VT pages, of course... so I can write this.)

THE NAME: Ulysses comes from The Odyssey. We know he had a heck of an odyssey until we found him. And yet his wonderous odyssey continues...

Von Williamsburg comes from the neighborhood I found him in. Williamsburg section of Orlando, near Sea World....

de Jacque et Patricia... refers to the two that discovered him. Baby Jack and moi....

Ulysses looked darling, post-grooming, de-fleaing and anti-ticking. He even smelled much better than his original Eau de Trash fragrance.

He was pretty much potty trained in that he very rarely "went" in the house (much!). He learned how to use the dog door virtually over night.

Okay... His list of ailments.
- Bad Heart Murmer
- Virtually non-existent socket for rear right leg joint
- Umbilical Hernia (sticks out at his underbelly! poor thing...)
- Needs to be fixed/neutered (they're coming off!)
- And we've discovered this one - he's freakin' DEAF! Or at best SEVERELY hearing impaired to a few pitches of sound...

And yet he's cute, doesn't bark (often) and follows me around. Beats my record with men! He's a keeper!

ONE YEAR AFTER NOTE:
He is a picky eater, creating quite the challenge to get him fed, but he's up to 12 - 13 lbs. Merlin, the porker Pug sneaks in and eats his food and Merlin's health is at risk as a result.

If Uly doesn't eat, he suffers seizures. If Merlin eat's too much it affects his fat heart. TRICKY!

He's a great dog. Ulysses has certainly taught me a lot about myself and how selfish I can be. But I have to look after him, too now, so I have learned to sacrifice!