The ULTIMATE Sindebele v. The Greyhound video!

Ok, fans, this is the ultimate Sindebele v. The Greyhound video.  If you are not laughing, you have no soul!  

Sindebele v. The Greyhound Part 1

Ok, one of the best things about having Sindebele with me in Portland was the rivalry (for lack of a better word) that developed between her and my neighbor's greyhound, Sophie.  Sindebele HATED Sophie and she would lay quietly and patiently on her chair waiting for Sophie to go out on a walk so she could bark at her.  The lengths to which Sindebele would go to evidence her displeasure were truly hilarious.  Enjoy!

RIP

I lost my dearest, darling girl in late June of this year.  I haven't had the heart until now to write it down and the reality of it is still difficult to swallow.  She was the light of my life and I miss her every single day.  Yes, really, every single day.

Doggy Daycare

Yes, for busy people like myself who live alone and have dogs, there is this AMAZING thing called Doggy Daycare!

Sindebele goes to a Doggy Daycare in inner SE called The Howliday Inn (how cute is that?!).  They take super good care of the dogs and they have the largest daycare space in town (not those cramped little spaces you see in doggy daycares located in downtown or the Pearl).  They are also one of the best values for money around.

If you need daycare for your dog or if you need to overnight board, these are the guys to go to.  The website is: http://www.thehowlidayinn.com/.  Pam and Daniel are the owners and they'll help you and your dog feel right at home.

Here is of me picking up Sindebele at the end of a day of daycare.  She's sooooo cute!

For the love of my child

Right now Sindebele is going through treatment for cancer.  It's been a difficult time, mostly for me.  After all, luckily she's a dog and she doesn't know she's sick!

I really have to say that Portland is an incredible dog town.  There are some amazing, brilliant vets here.  Her primary care vet is Dr. Barnes over at North Portland Veterinary Clinic.  It is a wonderful clinic and Dr. Barnes is phenomenal.  She has been incredibly loving and patient and even now that Sindebele is being treated elsewhere, she still gets updates on how Sindebele is doing and calls me every once in awhile to check in.  If you need a good vet, I'd highly recommend her.  The website is: http://www.northportlandvet.com/

Sindebele's oncologist is the brilliant Dr. Freeman over at the Veterinary Cancer Referral Center.  They are located in the Dove Lewis building.  Sindebele visits Dr. Freeman every month and jumps all over her and her staff.  They always remark that she's so happy to see them.  There aren't many in town but Portland has at least 2 dedicated pet oncologists in town.  I would highly recommend Dr. Freeman if you're ever in this position.  The website is: http://www.pdxcancervet.com/

Finally, Sindebele is now going to a holistic vet so that we can approach this challenge from all angles.  She is currently seeing Dr. Judkins at Hawthorne Veterinary Clinic.  Yesterday she received doggy acupuncture in the hopes that it will make her feel better and increase her appetite.  I was totally intrigued.  I mean only in Portland can you get doggy acupuncture:)  And on top of that, she's the first in the family to try acupuncture!  She goes in for some more treatments next week.  Wish us luck!  And if you're interested in holistic veterinary medicine, these are folks to check out.  The website is: http://hawthornevet.com/

Botswana

So, Sindebele is originally from Botswana.  For those of you who don't know where Botswana is, it's a country in Africa and it's located just north of South Africa.  It's an amazing country and I had the good fortune of living there with my parents for a year after I graduated from college.  For those of you who are old enough to remember the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy," that movie was set in Botswana.  Much of the country is taken up by the Kalahari desert but it has incredible wildlife and the government has worked very hard to protect it's natural resources.  If you'd like to learn more about Botswana, check it out on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botswana

Sindebele was born on a ranch on the outskirts of the capital city of Gaborone, right next to the desert.  Sometimes we refer to her as little desert dog as she loves hot weather and sun.  She was a pretty darn cute little puppy:

I bought Sindebele for 500 Pula.  Pula is the currency in Botswana.  The word translated is "rain."  It's about roughly 5 Pula to the Dollar so she cost me about $100.

Sindebele's name is local to the region.  Zimbabwe neighbors Botswana to the east and it's comprised of two major tribes, the Matabele and the Shona.  The Matabele people speak a language called Sindebele.  It's a nice, bouncy word and she's a bouncy dog so I thought the name was a good fit.  Her name is prounced Sin-duh-bell-ee.  Most people pronounce her name correctly, they just can't spell it though!

Sindebele helps in the classroom.

One of my favorite pictures of Sindebele is the picture of her reading the "Pokey Little Puppy" (the main picture of my blog).  My mom, who is a school teacher, taught preschool for a few years and Sindebele was instrumental in the classroom.  This picture was meant to inspire the little preschoolers to learn how to read, and I think it does.

Another thing my mom and I did was to create a little video to show her students how to plant pumpkins for Halloween.  The day we made the video, I had just come off set from playing a zombie in a local movie.  So we decided that I would play a zombie in the video and narrate to the kids.  Sindebele managed to sneak into the video.  Take a look....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63k_Pp2ecrk