The Chili Dawg

Chili Dawg here.  Mom went back to work this week.  The first couple days I didn’t really mind.  She called the first few days “in-sti-toot daze”, and she wasn’t gone for that long.  Then, today first Dad’s alarm went off at 4 and he left for his run like he always does on Thursdays.  Then, a little while later, Mom’s alarm went off.  “What the heck?!?” I thought.  I remembered she had told Noah last night that this year her school started earlier and everyone was going to have to go to bed earlier because everyone was going to have to get up early and make a quick exit for her to get to school on time, but this was ridiculous!  During the summer I sleep until whenever and then I come downstairs and go outside!  There aren’t 2 alarms!

Eventually they made me get up and go out- it wasn’t even 6 o’clock in the morning!  Can you believe it?!?  I should file some sort of complaint (along with a complaint about the cone of shame).  Then, they got up the little kids, and if you thought I wasn’t happy, boy they weren’t happy either.  Mom and Dad told them they were sorry that they had to get up so early (it was a little after 6 o’clock), but Mom’s school starts at 7:05 this year instead of 8:10, and Mom has to drop them off by 6:30 to get to school on time.

So, I’m not a fan of the school year.  Except for the fact that now Mom and the kids get home by 2:30 and we have most of the afternoon to play outside before bedtime.  I like that part.  Just not the early morning part.  Mom said she doesn’t like the early morning part either, but she doesn’t control the school start time.  I think she should control it.  Just saying.

Today is my 3 month ampuversary & I get to share it with my grandpa’s birthday- how cool is that?!?  Mom has been down in the dumps for the past few days, but I don’t think she wants me to know.  I think it has something to do with her having to go back to school on Monday, which means our summer of fun is over.  Yesterday she sat on the swings while the kids played in the sand box and petted my fur for a long time.  She kept a smile on her face the whole time, but I know her better than that.  I could sense her sadness, so I buried my head into her arm in a big hug.  Then Finchy got a bit jealous, and started to do his kidney bean dance for attention along with his “woo-ing” noise.  Fortunately he has the attention span of a gnat and a kid riding by on a bike distracted him and he had to go “patrol the fence line”.  Silly monkey dog, doesn’t know what he’s missing!

Chili Dawg here.  Today Mom took me back to the vet.  This time she brought Noah and Juliana with too, so I made sure I was on my best behavior.  I even carried my leash in my mouth for Mom so she could hold both kids’ hands.  I did get a bit nervous after they put us in a room to see the vet.  I climbed as far as I could under the bench that Mom and the kids were sitting on.  Noah got down on the floor to try to put me at ease, but he’s only 4 so he could only do so much.  Mom ended up doing most of the comforting, but I still wouldn’t come out from under the bench, even after she promised me I wouldn’t lose another leg or have another ear surgery.  Then the vet came in, and he tried to coax me out from under the bench too.  Mom asked me nicely to come out, so I got up and went with the nice man into the back.  They took out my stitches and told me that I did really well.  I didn’t growl or anything.  I just laid there really nice.  Then he brought me back to Mom and showed her my ear and explained to her that I still needed to wear the “cone of shame” if I continue to scratch at it for another week or so.  Stupid cone!  I was sure I was done with it!  Mom told me she’s going to give me another chance out of the cone, and the vet gave us some ointment to help with the itching.  He couldn’t believe how well I walk with 3 legs.  Then, I got to carry my leash for Mom back to the van and we came home.  Finchy was waiting for me at the door- I don’t think he believed Mom when she said we would be right home.  So, I am cone free for the time being, hooray!

Last night I gave the Chili Dawg a break from his cone- a supervised break- emphasis on the supervised, since the last blog showed that he most definitely can’t be trusted out of the cone right now.  It was nice to just sit outside and watch him do his traditional “Chili Dawg Roll” in the grass, kicking his 3 legs around in the air.  Then, Finchy gave the bark, “There are kids on bikes coming by!”  and Chili Dawg transitioned easily to a standing position.  The two of them took off along the fence line running with the kids, but Chili Dawg took the time to throw me a smile that said, “See Mom, I’m gonna be fine.”

So, Mom said she would take off the cone while I was in eye sight but I couldn’t scratch at my ear.  Apparently Mom doesn’t realize how itchy a recently shaved ear is.  I was doing pretty good with the cone off, but then my ear started to itch.  Mom appeared to be engaged in playing “The Ladybug Game” with Noah and Juliana was downstairs doing her Occupational Therapy session, so I snuck out of the room undetected, or I should say, I thought I snuck out of the room undectected.

Apparently even though Mom is on summer vacation, her “teacher senses” are still there.  I was just getting into scratching my ear, when Mom crept into the room and put that cone back on my head!  I didn’t even see it coming!  She told me that she couldn’t trust me not to scratch my stitches out and that she didn’t want me to hurt my ear, so I was going to have to wear the cone now whether I wanted to or not.  I have figured out how to get it off while I am outside by rolling around on the ground, but Mom always makes sure to get it back on me.  She does give me time out of it in the evening when Finchy and I are chilling out with them before bed time.  Only one more week until the stitches come out, and then I’m going to hide the stoopid cones (they have 2 of them, can you believe it?) so I never have to wear one again!

Chili Dawg here.  I’m still a bit loopy from yesterday’s surgery, and I’m back in the “cone of shame”.  Mom and Dad have showered me with lots of love since I came home last night.  Finchy sniffed me all over.  Last night I felt pretty silly.  I had to wear this pressure bandage on my ear.

Then, they put the “cone of shame” back on me during the night so I didn’t do anything to my ear in the night.  This morning my human brother and sister came in to see me.  Noah immediately sat down and petted me just like when I came home from my amputation.  Juliana kept saying “Uh-Oh” and pointing to my ear, so I gave my head a nice big shake and got that silly pressure bandage off of my ear.  Mom said she will take the cone off when I’m in eye sight but I’ll have to wear it when no one is around to watch me until my stitches come out.  Mom and Noah said that I’m still beautiful, but I think I heard Finchy laughing at me in the night…

Finchy here again.  I waited and watched at the door until Mom brought the Chili Dawg home.  She was right, he’s not missing any body parts this time.  He is missing fur though, but Mom said to tell him he’s still beautiful.   He’s pretty high on some kind of medicine, but not as loopy as when he came home without his leg.  They put the “cone of shame” back on him and Mom said he’s supposed to wear it until his stitches come out, but they will probably take it off while he is in their sights.

I hope Mom relaxes now, because I know I can.  She had a rough day.  I stopped getting into mischief after the digging, but then my 2 year old human sister spiked a fever and started throwing up.  Mom had to watch her because she can have seizures when this happens.  I’m just glad to have my brudder home, even if he does look funnier now…

Finchy here.  Over the weekend Mom and Dad found a fluid pocket in Chili Dawg’s ear.  This morning Mom left with Chili Dawg and didn’t take me with.  Then she came home without him.  I’m worried.  I’ve been following Mom around for an hour whining at her that she forgot to bring him home.  She keeps telling me that he is having surgery on his ear today and will be home tonight.  She says he has something called a “heeee-muh-toe-muh” in his ear filled with blood.  All I know is that the last time my brudder left, he came home without a leg, so what will he be missing this time?  Mom assures me that he will come home with everything that he left with, but he will have a bandage on his ear for a little while.  I guess she’s right, she’s never lied to me before.

I don’t like being without my brudder.  I already got into mischief this morning, I dug a hole in the backyard.  Mom wasn’t happy, because I was covered in mud and she had to wash me off, but if Chili had been home, he would have kept me from it.  I hope she learned her lesson about separating us!  I’ll let you know when Chili Dawg comes home…

Chili Dawg here.  So, on Tuesday, my silly mom got up early before the temperature got into the 100’s to go for a run.  An hour after she got home, her back started to hurt.  By the next day, she could barely stand up and spent most of the day hunched over and crawling on all fours.  She spent most of the week going to and from the chiropractor twice a day and she is fine now, but let me tell you how Finchy and I enjoyed the week (wink, wink).

Mom wasn’t so quick cleaning up the lunch dishes, so I was able to table surf to my heart’s content while her back was turned and she never caught me.  Finchy was able to get little “snacks” from our 2 year old human sister because Finchy was quicker than mom when Juliana dropped food.  Don’t worry, Mom is back to her old self, thanks to the chiropractor, so our week of fun snacking has sadly come to an end.