CAGNEY...CT

Hi Diane You probably don't remember us, but we adopted Maggie and Macie (aka: Cagney and Lacy) back in 2005 around Christmas time. We have been so busy since then, but I wanted to give you an update. Last year in June of 2006, we moved to Arizona. I took a job transfer to our division in Chandler which is a suburb of Phoenix. We love it out here. The company moved all our furniture and personal belongings, and Dan and I packed up all our "important" stuff in a van and travelled across the country - with 4 dogs! It was quite an experience, but little Maggie and Macie LOVE to travel. The van had a console between the two front seats that was perfect to have a thick blanket on making the height even with our laps. For four days, they moved from lap to lap and basically slept and snuggled the whole route. Since then we have also travelled to visit family in Nebraska. We boarded our big dachshund, Tucker, as well as our Sheltie (Sassy). Neither of them travel well at all unfortunately. But we took Maggie and Macie and again they were just perfect for the ride. They love all people and had a great time with my daughter's dogs in Nebraska. One of her dogs is a great Dane, and it looked so funny to see them sniff noses. Because they are dachshunds, the size of the great Dane didn't faze them one bit! We love them very much. We don't know what we would do without them. I am sending pictures of them as an attachment. As you can see, they have quite a lot of fur now and they weigh 10 lbs each. We are now watching their weight; we don't want them to get too heavy. We are having a few health issues with Macie. She started to have an occasional seizure (very mild) not too long after we got her. The vet said to just keep an eye on her. Over time, they became more frequent, and the vet out here has put her on medication for epilepsy. This has been working pretty well, but she still has seizures occasionally. I am taking her to the vet this Friday to talk about further testing for liver function, etc. They have a nice fenced in yard to play in out here. The weather is too hot to be outside for long, though, so they really just go out to potty right now. Being away from the cold weather up north seems to be helping my Sheltie's arthritis also. She is more like a puppy out here than she has been in years. During the time that we are at work, they are crated together. My husband and I are on different schedules, however, so they are never crated for long periods of time. My big dachshund, Tucker, has his own crate which is very large. Initially, I thought I would crate them all together in the big crate because they like to sleep all together in a heap when they're out of their crates. But Tucker loves them too much. He likes to hold them down and clean their faces and ears, and I was afraid they would get stuck under him. He is a big boy - 27 lbs (Standard). I hope you enjoy the picture. Thanks, Nancy and Dan