Paco is dead

Paco has passed away. He died in a freak accident this past Saturday night, January 24, 2009. The whole story can be read here.

We are still reeling from the incident and we know we are not alone in feeling the pain of this loss. He was a damn good dog who was loved by many.

We ask that, if you want to do something, please make a donation to BADRAP (or your favorite pit bull rescue) in Paco's name. While he died far before his time, at 7 years old he surpassed the average lifespan of an inner city pit bull which is about 2 years, a statistic that desperately needs changing.

RIP, Little Buddy... hope there's lots of piñatas to kill in doggie heaven.

It's been a cool minute

Perhaps because there's nothing much to report. Paco's doing well and back to normal activity levels. He has slowed down a bit but I think it's mostly due to age versus leg issues (he's now 7 1/2!). He does favor one leg slightly. It's hard to tell, but if you look closely you can see the muscle mass on one side is about 1/3 larger than the other. Fortunately, his ass is not his defining feature.

We start a new supplement today to see if that helps his overall creakiness, which is barely noticeable now but we'd like to keep it that way.

In the meantime, if you want to see lots of videos of Paco in motion, you can check out our new Youtube Channel, PacoTV. Here's a tease:

http://www.youtube.com/pacocollars

Baby's Got Back(hair)!

Last week marked the week Paco's hair finally grew in. I know this for a fact because we just had a barbeque two weekends ago and I was pointing out Paco's surgery line. Faint as it was, it did the trick as he was able to invoke sympathy (and table scraps) from everyone at the gathering.

And then we let him kill the giant unicorn pinata stuffed with tennis balls.

However, I tried to point out the line for visitors this weekend but, alas, it was nowhere to be seen. Not that we're complaining. In fact, this marks a huge victory in his recovery, as we had somewhat resigned ourselves to thinking our little company mascot was going to be naked from the waist down (aka "pants-less") forever.

Instead, it took almost 5 months on the nose to go from bald to beautiful. Check out the results:

Side view

close up (Paco wants you to know it smells like roses, just scratch and sniff)

And finally, annoyance.

It feels good to have our little guy back in one piece!

Cover Boy!

So remember a few months back when I announced Paco was selected by his surgeon, Dr. Haburjak, to be the cover boy for their CCL injury flyer? Well, it's now in circulation, woohoo!

Check it out:

If you want your own copy to frame, keep around as bathroom reading material, or use for kindling I'm sure you could request a copy from www.vscdsurgerycenters.com

Paco Gets Gay

And so do we. At the San Francisco Pride Parade.

We marched with the rest of the BADRAP contingency and won the unofficial costume contest (I say unofficial because I think we were the only ones participating).

Paco walked strong the entire time. Granted, it's not a long parade, but the entire event is pretty tiring for the pooches. Let's just say he slept well the rest of the day!

You can see more pride pix (and a sweet video) here!

Bonus Footage

Because Paco's mom is a little bit, ahem, technologically challenged at times, these videos were only recently uploaded and formatted for sharing.

Paco loves to fetch the stick at the lake. He's like a little otter in the water! And he can seriously beat any dog to the stick (just ask Pandora, she's eaten his waves before).

Shaking it off

And this is why Paco needs a bath when we get home (and why there's a brown ring around the tub).

(Okay, shameless product endorsement here: after all the abuse his Paco Collar goes through, it still looks great!)

Paco's Vacation

So this weekend Paco went on his first vacation in 4 months. We went to his favorite place on earth, Pyramid Lake (the one just past Reno, not the one near L.A.). It's the place he learned to swim when he was a wee pup and we make a pilgrimage at least once a year. As you can see, he really pops against the natural palette.

I'm not going to give away our secrets, but we have a spot that almost nobody knows about and you're pretty much guaranteed privacy (unless it's a major holiday weekend). The end result was that only two people intruded our solitude the entire time. One just drove by in their truck and the other was a dirt bike rider who stopped for fifteen minutes to explore the rock formations. Other than that, we got to loaf around, and Paco got to relax and swim to his heart's content for days. Well, day and half.

Here are some choice pics:

On top of the rock

Crazy swimming face

(there's a small stick in his mouth, hence the really weird expression)

Showcasing his native style

Group shot with Paco doing his best Zoolander impression

Dirt Face (aka. "Pig Pen")

Dinner

Feasting like a wild animal

Dead dog after a weekend of fun