we almost lost our "daughter"

so last night hubs & i decided to go out for a little bit while i was letting my cakes cool. as we were leaving and talking about where to go, little butchy was desperately wiggling and begging to go with us, so we decided to take her to petco if it was open, and if not to go walk in the park. we drove by petco which was closed, and decided to go walking outside, eventually choosing to go to western's campus and look around to see some of the construction that has been completed since we graduated 3 years ago. it was lovely evening, not too hot, and we parked at the top of the hill and walked around & down to DUC. by the time that we got down to the bottom of the hill butchy was panting pretty hard so we were trying to decide if we should try to make it back up w/her or one of us go get the car. we carried her for part of the way, and then patrick left me in the valley and went to get the car.

by that time her tongue had turned purple and she was gasping for breath. a lot of bulldogs have this thing where they cough up white foam when over excited or over-heated. well, butch starting having this a lot and it was blocking her airways and started coming out of her nose! patrick finally showed up with the car and we sped home with the air blasting and holding her head out of the window to try to get her to cool down and breathe. when we got home i ran inside and turned on a cold bath while patrick carried her in. she gagged and spit up and i had to clear her throat a few times b/c the foam was choking her. finally after sticking my finger down her throat a few times she coughed the last of it up and started to breathe a little more. patrick brought a fan into the bathroom and we held it on her and kept pouring cool water over her neck. after hanging over the side of the tub for several minutes with the fan blowing on her, she finally decided that she was fine and jumped out of the tub and went into the office to show her daddy that she was okay. (he had left me in the bathroom with her--he later said "he couldn't stay in there and watch his dog die"--we see who will be the one to act in a crisis...).

we kept her calm and cool for the rest of the night, and she is doing better now, just subdued and breathing through her nose as much as possible. (i think her little throat is sore). well, we've learned some things about our girl. #1--no more walks more than the length of our block during the summer. #2. when she starts panting, we stop walking! #3--we love her so very much!!! she has been quite pampered since we got home and we are making sure that she gets plenty of rest!

our little sleepy survivor

in the meantime, i have made 2 cakes for my niece & nephew's birthday this evening. i had some issues w/kara's cake, but i think they came out alright--especially considering the drama in our house last night! one thing is for sure--they taste GREAT!